Children with visual impairments experience greater difficulty with school-related tasks such as reading and writing, playing sports, and achieving success in future work roles. The most common vision problems in school-age children include focusing deficits, eye movement and tracking difficulties, amblyopia (lazy eye) and/or strabismus (wandering eye).
Here are some signs to look for in a child who may have an underlying visual impairment:
Appearance
Closing an eye Eye turning in or out at any time Excessive blinking Squinting Tearing Redness/Swelling
Behavior
Poor attention span Poor tracking Poor eye-coordination Poor eye teaming Confusion of shapes
Complaints
Eye discomfort Headaches Burning Itching Double vision Dizziness Blur
Children with vision difficulties often avoid the stimulus/situation causing the problem (i.e. reading) or adapt (i.e. hold book closer, move head to read, close an eye). Rather than having to struggle or compensate when faced with typical everyday activities, seek out an exam by a developmental optometrist to determine if there is an underlying visual impairment that can be treated with neuro-optometric rehabilitation (vision therapy).
For a list of optometrists near you specializing in developmental vision, visit the College of Optometrists in Vision Development at http://locate.covd.org.