I recently came upon an article that stated, “Close to 175,000 American preschoolers struggle with common, untreated, vision problems”. Read the article here: They project that by 2060, the number of uncorrected vision problems in preschoolers will jump another 26%. This may be due to the use of modern technology, although it wasn’t stated why.
Looking back over the years, I can only remember two children that were brought to have their vision checked. One child was always complaining at circle time that he couldn’t see the story we were reading. So, before circle time started, Jackie or I would make sure he wasn’t sitting behind a taller child. If he was, we would move his spot to help him see better. But, even with our efforts, he was still complaining that he couldn’t see. The second child was a little girl who always seem to be rubbing her eyes. When we mentioned it to her mother, she wondered if she had allergies. After we spoke with the child’s mother, she began to be aware of how much her daughter was rubbing her eyes. When it continued into the winter, after allergy season, she decided to bring her daughter to the eye doctor. Both children needed glasses.
Reading the article reminded me of those two children, but it also made me realize how few parents bring their child in to an eye specialist for a basic comprehensive eye exam. This article recommends that all children should have a comprehensive eye exam by 3 years old.
Very young children cannot understand or express when there is something wrong with their vision, so they are often heard complaining, “I can’t see that”. Remember to bring your child in for a vision checkup, this may help them to be more successful in their early years of learning.
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