Pediatric Eye Exam

Signs of Eye and Vision Problems

A pediatric eye exam is a crucial step in ensuring the visual health of children. It’s recommended that kids eye exams be conducted regularly, as many vision problems and eye diseases can be detected and treated early. During an eye exam for children, optometrists engage in a series of tests designed to evaluate the child’s vision and eye health, tailoring their approach to suit the young patient’s age and developmental stage. These exams are essential not only for detecting vision issues but also for ensuring that children have the visual skills necessary for academic success and proper social development. Parents should ensure their children undergo a comprehensive pediatric eye exam to safeguard their vision and overall well-being.

Our Expert eye doctors at Eyecare Experts Sugar Land, see patients start 6 months of age.

Patients at risk include:

The extent to which a child is at risk for the development of eye and vision problems determines the appropriate re-evaluation schedule. Children with ocular signs and symptoms require a prompt, comprehensive examination. Furthermore, the presence of certain risk factors may necessitate more frequent examinations based on professional judgment.

Factors placing an infant, toddler or child at significant risk for eye and vision problems include:

• Prematurity, low birth weight, prolonged supplemental oxygen at birth.
• Family history of myopia, amblyopia, strabismus, retinoblastoma, congenital cataracts, metabolic or genetic disease.
• Infection of mother during pregnancy (e.g., rubella, toxoplasmosis, venereal disease, herpes, cytomegalovirus or human immunodeficiency virus).
• Maternal smoking, use of alcohol or illicit drug use during pregnancy.
• Cortical visual impairment.
• Difficult or assisted labor, which may be associated with fetal distress.
• High or progressive refractive error.
• Strabismus
• Anisometropia.
• Academic performance problems.
• Known or suspected neurodevelopmental disorders.
• Systemic health conditions with potential ocular manifestations.
• Wearing contact lenses.
• Functional vision in only one eye.
• Eye surgery or previous eye injury.
• Taking prescription or nonprescription drugs (e.g., over the counter medications, supplements, herbal remedies) with potential ocular side effects.

Vision Skills needed for school

Vision is more than just the ability to see clearly or having 20/20 eyesight. It is also the ability to understand and respond to what is seen. There are many basic visual skills beyond seeing clearly that are important to supporting academic success.

Every child needs to have the following vision skills for effective reading and learning:

• Visual acuity—the ability to see clearly in the distance for viewing the chalkboard, at an intermediate distance for the computer and up close for reading a book.
• Eye Focusing—the ability to quickly and accurately maintain clear vision as the distance from objects change, such as when looking from the chalkboard to a paper on the desk and back. Eye focusing allows the child to easily maintain clear vision over time like when reading a book or writing a report.
• Eye tracking—the ability to keep the eyes on target when looking from one object to another, moving the eyes along a printed page or following a moving object like a thrown ball.
• Eye teaming—the ability to coordinate and use both eyes together when moving the eyes along a printed page, and to be able to judge distances and see depth for classwork and sports.
• Eye-hand coordination—the ability to use visual information to monitor and direct the hands when drawing a picture or trying to hit a ball.
• Visual perception—the ability to organize images on a printed page into letters, words and ideas and to understand and remember what is read.

Other visual perceptual skills include:

• Recognition—the ability to tell the difference between letters like "b" and "d".
• Comprehension—"picture" in the child's mind what is happening in a story he/she is reading.
• Retention—remember and recall details of what we read.

If any of these visual skills are lacking or not functioning properly, a child will have to work harder to learn as effectively. Students who struggle with a learning-related vision problem may experience headaches, eyestrain and fatigue. Parents and teachers need to be alert for symptoms that may indicate a child has a vision problem.