Vision: 20/20 Is Not Enough!
Now is an excellent time to have your child’s vision checked. Don’t be too quick to say, “My child’s vision is fine: 20/20!” In many cases that is not enough.
The Snellen chart, the instrument most frequently used to test eyesight, often gives people a false sense of security about their vision. It measures only acuity — and that at a distance of 20 feet. How much does your child read at that distance?
The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that about 25 percent of children enter school with vision problems that can impede their school progress. Almost 50 percent of children with learning difficulties have vision problems, and up to 94 percent of children with reading problems have reduced visual skills.
Why does the Snellen chart leave some of these problems undetected? Vision involves much more than the sharpness of an image. It involves focusing — and refocusing as attention shifts between far and near (as when copying from the board). It involves binocularity, the two eyes working together to capture accurate pictures of our world and of the printed page. Vision also involves perception, the brain’s interpretation of the images taken in by the eyes.
Many people believe that vision should
be checked by an ophthalmologist, the person with the highest credentials. While it is true that an ophthalmologist is an M.D., he or she has spent about the same amount of time studying the anatomy, functions, and diseases of the eye as an optometrist has spent studying vision alone. To check my child’s vision I would seek an optometrist, specifically a “developmental” or “behavioral” optometrist. Not only will the vision exam be more thorough, but the developmental optometrist may prescribe a course of “vision therapy” to remedy problems.
Often we take vision for granted and do not think of it as a learned behavior. Because it is learned, however, through practice we can improve it. Experts speculate that the frequency of vision problems may be increasing because with television, video games, and computers, children today do not use their eyes in as many different ways as children did formerly; overall the vision of children entering school is less developed than it was a few decades ago.
What symptoms might indicate a vision problem? Any time a bright person struggles with reading, further investigation is warranted. Consider these specific questions in relation to yourself as well as in relation to your children or students. Answering yes to even a few of the questions justifies further examination. Do not discount a “yes” even if it is limited to special circumstances, such as fatigue.
Do you (or does the child) . . .
? hold reading material extremely close or far away?
? have poor posture or an unusual head tilt while doing close work?
? squint the eyes or open them very wide?
? cover one eye?
? frequently blink or rub the eyes?
? suffer from headaches, eyestrain, or fatigue?
? require excessive time to complete schoolwork or other near tasks?
? lose a place often when copying?
? skip words or lines when reading?
? report that words on a page blur or move?
? have poor comprehension of material read?
? run words together when writing?
? have poor hand-eye coordination?
I have first-hand experience with vision problems. I will be eternally grateful to Jane Porchey, my younger son’s kindergarten teacher, for identifying his vision problem in October. She noticed that although he could count, he kept getting the wrong answer when counting dots in a square. Working with him individually and having him point to the dots as he counted them, she discovered that for him the dots moved. It is not unusual for children with vision problems to have words and letters swim on the page, appearing and disappearing, doing flip-flops. Imagine trying to read under these circumstances! Even if you could manage to decode the words, you would have very little reserve attention to devote to comprehension.
Life can be very frustrating for people with vision problems. The world as a whole is likely to be fluid and chaotic for them. School in particular is likely to become a source of failure. It has been found that 70 percent of juvenile delinquents have vision problems that interfere with their ability to achieve. In one study, however, the rate of recidivism dropped from 45 percent to 16 percent when offenders received on-site vision therapy.
People with vision problems usually do not realize that they have them; they have no reason to think that their view of the world is different from everyone else’s.
My son’s story has a happy ending. After a few weeks of vision therapy, his eyes began working together better. Letters and numbers were less mobile. He was able to corral his writing into primary triple-rule. By spring his penmanship looked like the handwriting chart. His behavior improved, too. The frustration he had experienced in school — and in the world in general — had often made him sad, contrary, and belligerent. Once he discovered order in his world, he became cheerful, confident, generous.
Two self-portraits — both made in kindergarten — show how John changed as a result of vision therapy. The first, made in September, shows the most forlorn-looking child I have ever seen. I did not even recognize him as the child I had lived with for six years. The crayon lines are rather faintly drawn. One eye is about an inch lower than the other; he has no nose or mouth. Stringlike arms issue from his sides, the right arm about three times longer than the left. His right arm sprouts three fingers; his left arm, five, the shortest of which is longer than the arm itself. Although a patch of magenta represents his shorts, he has no legs or feet.
The second self-portrait, done in May, includes me. The lines of the drawing are firm. We both have noses, U-shaped smiles, and eyes that are directly across from each other. We both have legs and feet. We are, in fact, nearly identical as we stand with our arms around each other.
Preschoolers — even infants — can benefit from examination by a developmental optometrist. If a problem is identified very early, correction might be possible before the problem has a chance to cause difficulty in school. Adults, too, can benefit from vision therapy.
I urge you to have your children’s vision evaluated by a developmental optometrist as soon as possible, particularly if your children are having learning difficulties or if vision problems run in your family. Such an evaluation can only work for good. If a problem is discovered, you can begin working to correct it. If no problem is identified, you will have ruled out one possible cause of learning difficulties. That, too, is worthwhile.
For additional information about symptoms, therapy, and parent support groups, visit this site sponsored by Parents Active for Vision Education (P.A.V.E.), a national non-profit organization: http://www.pavevision.org/
A parent and former teacher, Fran Hamilton is the author of Hands-On English, now in its second edition. Hands-On English gives quick access to English fundamentals and makes grammar visual by using icons to represent parts of speech. The book is for anyone 9 years or older, including adults. Fran also publishes companion products to Hands-On English and free e-mail newsletters: LinguaPhile, published monthly, is for people who teach and/or enjoy English; Acu-Write, published weekly, addresses common errors in English. For more information, visit http://www.GrammarAndMore.com.
August 7th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Help Your Kids See Better
Teachers often observe that their pupils can see the blackboard quite well at the beginning of the term, - but their vision deteriorates as weeks go by. Most school children before school age have good vision. But ten years later most of them have vision problems and have to wear glasses or lenses.
Is it normal for human beings to wear visual crutches? Native people living in the wild are known for their keen eyesight. But when their children become ‘civilized’ and attend schools, they usually develop poor vision and have to wear glasses.
Is poor vision the price we have to pay for being civilized and educated? Are glasses a badge of intelligence and learning? Or are we ruining the eyes (and minds) of our children by educating them in the wrong way?
An American eye doctor, William Bates, proved that children can retain their good vision if they are taught to use their eyes in the right way. His method is simple, and the exercises in the class room only take a few minutes a day. He tested it in school systems in New York and other States, and it always succeeded in saving or improving children’s vision. In other schools most children tended to become myopic around the age of 10 or 12, or they developed other vision problems.
Dr. Bates first explained the process of vision to the teachers. The teachers then showed the students how to rest and improve their eyes with the help of a standard test card placed permanently on the wall. Through simple exercises lasting only a few minutes each day, the children learned to use their eyes in a natural and relaxed way. As a result they also felt better, they found learning easier and they got better grades.
But soon the school authorities claimed that the program interfered with the teaching routine, and opticians claimed that it was unscientific, useless and harmful. The programs were discontinued in spite of their success.
Today, most people in the industrial countries have visual defects. Only one country has an official policy of letting school children do daily eye exercises: China. As a result, the younger generation of Chinese now enjoys much better vision than their parents.
Visual defects are not only a nuisance. They make people nervous, accident-prone and susceptible to many other illnesses. People who wear glasses or lenses are less able to handle stress and hectic environments. Their ability to concentrate and remember things is reduced. Most of this can be avoided, and you can help your kids to see better. For more information visit: http://www.seeingwithoutglasses.net.
Christopher Markert
June 3rd, 2010 at 4:43 am
Took me a lot of time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It is very helpful to me. It’s always cool when you can not only be edjucated, but also entertained! I’m sure you had fun writing this article.