Pediatric Eye Exams in Dallas
Accurate and healthy vision is crucial for a child’s physical development, success in academic endeavours and overall well-being.
Vision and School Success | Eye Pieces Dallas
As much as 80 % of what a child learns in school is acquired through vision. If vision problems go undetected, many children may be misdiagnosed with “learning difficulties” or “ADHD”, as is already the case in much of the world.
In fact, 1/10 children have an issue with their visual skills that obstructs their ability to succeed in school and sports. The repeated failures and struggles can negatively impact their self esteem and confidence levels.
Don’t wait until your child is already in school and struggling to read, see the board, or play sports.
At Eye Pieces Dallas, we have the clinical knowledge and expertise to identify vision issues early on and intervene before the problems affect different areas of your children’s lives.
School Vision Screenings vs. Comprehensive Eye Exams for Children
Typically, pediatric or school vision screenings check your child’s eyes for basic aberrations or abnormalities. But to ensure good vision and proper eye health development, your child should have a comprehensive eye exam by a pediatric optometrist.
Comprehensive eye evaluations are crucial for revealing potential vision problems which can interfere with kids’ learning development. The exam includes tests for binocularity, refractive error, color vision, vision acuity, and overall eye health.
What is Assessed During a Pediatric Eye Exam?
The Eye Pieces Dallas optometrist will perform a thorough internal and external eye health evaluation. The optometrist will use specialized, age-appropriate instruments, testing procedures, and technologies that provide accurate results.
The pediatric eye exam evaluates the following:
- Eye Focusing
- Depth Perception
- Color Perception
- Eye Tracking
- Eye Muscle Teaming
- Peripheral Awareness
- Near Visual Acuity
- Distance Visual Acuity
How Often Should a Child Have an Eye Exam?
Children should have their first comprehensive eye exam at 6 months of age.
Following that, they should have their eyes examined at age 3 and at around age 5.
For school-aged children who don’t require correction, an eye exam every two years is recommended. Children wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses, however, should be examined annually or as recommended by your optometrist.
Glasses for Kids
Should your child need glasses for vision correction, Eye Pieces Dallas has a wide variety of age-appropriate and safe options. Because we specialize in eye care for young patients, we’re well acquainted with their preferred styles, shapes, and colors. We carry a large range of frames for children, inspired by adult trends but with a fun and imaginative approach and a pediatric fit in mind.
All of our frames are comfortable, durable, and made with kid-friendly materials. Young children find the bright colored frames they love, while teens find the latest fashion trends scaled down to fit their faces.
Do your kids play sports? Athletic eyewear for children can help protect their eyes from sports injuries.
At Eye Pieces Dallas, we have eyewear for every child and teen, no matter their features or preferences.
Contact Lenses for Teens
Have your child experience the freedom of contact lenses.
For children who dislike how they look in glasses, contact lenses could be the confidence booster they need.
Contact lenses enhance the natural color of the eye, for a more vibrant look. Your child will feel more confident and ready to take on the world!
They’ll also enjoy having the freedom of not worrying about losing or breaking glasses, and may participate in activities that they weren’t able to before.
Give your child the gift of clear and comfortable vision, and schedule their contact lens fitting with Eye Pieces Dallas today!
Your Child Deserves the Best Eye Care
Eye Pieces Dallas pediatric optometry division is a source of pride for our practice. Our experienced team works diligently to ensure that infants, children and teens have the ability to see, perceive and experience the world to their highest potential.
Make pediatric eye exams a priority. Visit Eye Pieces Dallas for a routine comprehensive pediatric eye exam, or come to us with your concerns regarding your infant or toddler’s vision, and we’ll make sure to find the optimal solution for his or her visual problems. Let us bring great eye health and vision care to you and your family for many years to come.
Eye Pieces Dallas is dedicated to ensuring excellent vision and serves patients from in and around Dallas.
Kids' Vision & Learning
Your child may pass the vision screening and excel in seeing all the letters on reading the vision charts on the wall but still lack the necessary visual skills needed for reading, writing, and learning, all of which can adversely impact your scholastic achievements.
Children's Vision & Learning
According to experts, 80% of learning is visual, which means that if your child is having difficulty seeing clearly, it can adversely affect their school performance.
20/20 Vision Is Not Enough
If your child has been told they have ‘20/20 sight’, it means you can clearly see the letters on the vision chart at 20 feet away. However having 20/20 eyesight is not enough.
With 20/20 vision, your child may pass the vision screening and excel in seeing all the letters on reading the vision charts on the wall, but still lack the necessary visual skills needed for reading, writing, and learning, all of which can adversely impact your one's scholastic achievements.
Visual Skills and Learning
As mentioned above, poor visual skills, rather than poor eyesight, is often at the root of learning problems. Many children struggle with schoolwork because of one or more of the following critical vision skill deficiencies:
EYE MOVEMENT CONTROL Poor eye movement control often results in errors, such as reversing letters, losing one’s place, and inserting or skipping letters, numbers, or words.
FOCUSING This allows the eyes to quickly refocus from near to far objects and vice versa — essential for reading the board and writing notes.
EYE ALIGNMENT Your eyes need to point accurately and simultaneoulsy, to the object viewed. If one of the eyes deviates it can result in double vision, and affect reading skills and classroom learning.
CONVERGENCE To look at a near object, the eyes must converge toward each other. If convergence is not maintained, one eye turns in or out, causing the object or word to appear double, blurry, or mislocated.
VISUAL PERCEPTION Those with poor visual perception typically confuse numbers and letters, such as “b” with “d”, “p” and “q”, or “6” and “9”, have difficulty recognizing words, frequently lose their place in a text, and are unable to distinguish right from left, among other things.
How Undeveloped Visual Skills Affect Kids Learning
All too often, it is an undiagnosed vision problem that’s at the root of the struggle to focus at a distance (such as the board), maintain concentration, or skip lines when reading. This makes bright children seem like they can’t grasp the subject at hand, which, in turn, can result in secondary behavioral issues, such as frustration and boredom — an overlooked component of a child’s diagnosis with ADD/ADHD or a learning disability.
If your child is struggling at school, contact us today for an in-depth vision exam to assess their essential visual skills.
Learning-Related Vision Problems
Signs and Symptoms
Some of the most common roadmap symptoms of learning-related vision disorders are:
- Double vision, particularly during or after reading
- Poor handwriting
- Hyperactivity or recklessness during class
- Word and letter reversals
- Easily distracted during reading
- Poor reading comprehension
- Poor overall school performance
- Circumventing of reading
- Blurred vision, especially after reading or working closely
- Eye Strain or frequent headaches
Call us to schedule a comprehensive child’s vision exam if your child exhibits one or more of these signs or symptoms and is exhibiting these types of problems in school.
Comprehensive Child Vision Exam
A comprehensive child's vision exam includes tests performed in a routine eye exam, plus specific additional tests for detecting learning-related vision problems.
Extra tests would include accommodation, binocular vision, and ocular motility testing. In addition to these—and depending on the type of problems your child displays— we may recommend additional testing, either with one of our optometrists or with a vision development specialist.
Vision Therapy
Special reading glasses or vision therapy may help your child if s/he has a learning-related vision problem that cannot be corrected using regular glasses or contact lenses. Vision therapy entails eye exercises and other activities specifically tailored for each patient to strengthen vision skills.