Healthier Kids Foundation tests vision, helps in purchasing glasses
Published in the Sept. 2-15, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Kathleen M. King
Kathleen M. King
Healthier Kids Foundation wants all children who have vision problems to be identified and receive glasses or vision care if needed. We at HKF vision screen for astigmatisms, far-sightedness, lazy eye, and other eye issues with high-tech photo-optic scan cameras at preschools and K-12th grade schools in Santa Clara County.
Eyesight problems such as refractive errors that prevent a child from focusing clearly, as well as near-sightedness, far-sightedness and astigmatism, can negatively impact a child’s learning ability in the classroom or while doing homework. These eye disorders can begin developing as early as two to three years old and about 25 percent of adolescents are affected, according to Helen Keller International. As many as 12 percent of children starting kindergarten may have trouble learning to read without glasses.
Brandon was vision screened by HKF at three years old, received glasses, and now has been told by his ophthalmologist at Kaiser that his astigmatism has completely reversed and the anisotropy is making strides to be corrected, too. His mother posted on Facebook: “We cannot thank you and your team enough for your program that has forever changed his life.”
After HKF helped a 6-year-old with a pair of eyeglasses, his mother told us: “The glasses have changed my son drastically. After he received the glasses, he told me ‘Mommy, I see so much better with my glasses.’ My son has not taken his glasses off since he first received them. He does everything with them. He only takes them off to sleep.” This makes all of us at HKF very happy.
Children should have their first visit to their optometrist soon after they turn three and should see an optometrist at least once a year afterward. Morgan Hill schools do a great job of screening our children for distance vision. We at HKF vision screen at a few of the community’s schools such as P.A. Walsh STEAM Academy as requested by the Morgan Hill City Council and Morgan Hill Unified School District. But for your child’s sake, if you have vision insurance, please don’t rely on only school screenings or your pediatrician. (Most insurance plans include vision.)
Vision is a learned skill. A child learns to see just like a child learns to walk and talk. When learning to walk and talk, she or he can imitate parents and siblings. In addition, parents can observe their children to determine if walking and talking are developing properly. Vision development, however, generally proceeds without much awareness on the part of parents. Up to 90 percent of all a child learns comes to a child via the visual pathways.
If there is any interference in those pathways, a child will not develop to his or her maximum potential.
After I present about how important vision is to our learning, parents will come up to me and tell me that they had problems seeing in school and what a difference glasses made to their ability to learn. A few have told me they did not really see leaves on trees until they were 10 or 11 years old.
So what happens when a young child suffers from poor vision and doesn’t even know that their vision is causing them issues? Do they become disruptive? Do they get diagnosed ADD, ADHD, or developmental delayed? Do they have headaches, lay their head on the table to try to focus on their book or do they begin to dislike the effort of reading?
One of my sons had a difficult time learning to read and was diagnosed with a visual tracking issue. This child received glasses when he was 8. Would the glasses have made a difference if he had them at 5 years old instead of 8? I think they might have helped him.
Our children live in a world of wonder. Let’s make sure they enjoy every aspect of it. Let’s help them see the world – especially now that the new school year is starting.
Kathleen M. King is the CEO of Healthier Kids Foundation (visit www.hkidsf.org) and is mother of child who has survived two bone marrow transplants.
