Paediatric Eye Tests
Did you know that 80% of learning is visual? That means if your child is having trouble seeing clearly, it can seriously impact their ability to learn and succeed.
That's why it's so important to take your kids for regular eye tests. Optometrists are trained to use unique techniques and technologies to ensure accurate testing, even for young children.
How Young Eyes Develop
We are not born with fully developed vision. While the essential parts of our eyes are present from the start, much like the rest of our newborn abilities, we must interact with the real world to learn how to use them.
A newborn child begins to interact with their immediate environment, initiating visual development at around one month of age. At this stage, they focus on close distances of approximately 20 to 30 centimetres, which is essential for activities like feeding and engaging with their parents during mealtime.
Around 4-6 months of age, an infant's interest gradually extends to objects at a greater distance, accompanied by an improved ability to see in the distance. This stage marks the beginning of their exploration of the visual world. When a baby reaches out to interact with visually captivating objects, it triggers a connection between their hand and eye movements, initiated by primitive reflexes. This early stage fosters the development of hand-eye coordination. As the child grows and becomes more mobile, such as when they begin to crawl and walk, this visual-motor coordination expands to encompass their whole body.
Our vision assists in telling our body how to move in space, where things are, and what they are. When a child is overly clumsy, they are not receiving good information about where to put their body in space. The visual system needs to be investigated to ensure that it is not the cause of the inaccuracy.
For good visual development, a child should be given every opportunity to interact with the real world and experience climbing, swinging, rolling, balancing, hanging, and spinning. These experiences calibrate the sensory system of vision so that accurate information going in creates accurate responses coming out.
Eye Tests By Age
Infants: Birth - 24 Months
A baby's visual system develops gradually over the first few months of life. They start by being able to see blurry shapes and colours and gradually learn to focus and move their eyes and use them together as a team. The brain also needs to learn how to process the visual information from the eyes to understand and interact with the world.
The foundation for motor development, such as crawling, walking and hand-eye coordination, also comes with the development of eyesight. That's why it's so important to ensure that your baby is reaching their visual milestones.
You can do this by monitoring what is happening with your infant's development and scheduling a comprehensive eye examination at 6 months. During this test, the Optometrist will check that your child is seeing properly and developing on track and look for conditions that could impair eye health or vision, such as strabismus (misalignment or crossing of the eyes), farsightedness, shortsightedness or astigmatism).
Preschool Children: 2-5 Years
The toddler and preschool age is a critical time for vision development. Children at this age are rapidly developing their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and perceptual abilities, which are essential for reading, writing, playing sports, and participating in creative activities. Good vision is essential for all of these activities.
This is also the age when children are most at risk for developing lazy eye (amblyopia) and crossed eyes (strabismus). Amblyopia is when one eye does not see as clearly as the other. Strabismus is a condition in which one or both eyes turn inward or outward. Both of these conditions are treatable, but early detection is key.
Parents should be aware of the signs of vision problems in toddlers and preschoolers. These signs can include:
- Squinting
- Rubbing the eyes frequently
- Sitting very close to the TV or reading material
- Avoiding activities such as puzzles or colouring
- Difficulty with object, number or letter recognition
- Difficulty with colour recognition or coordination
Early eye exams can help to detect and treat vision problems early when they are most treatable. Early treatment can help prevent vision problems from worsening and help children reach their full potential.
School-Aged Kids: 9-18 Years
Undetected or uncorrected vision problems can have a significant impact on children's lives. They can cause children to struggle in school, socially and athletically.
If your child is having trouble in school or after-school activities, there could be an underlying vision problem. Children's learning, motor development, reading, and many other skills are dependent on not only good vision but also the ability of their eyes to work together.
Children with vision problems may experience frustration and may exhibit behavioural problems as well. Often, they don't know that their vision is deficient, so they are unable to express any concerns.
Signs of vision problems in older children include:
- Reading below grade level
- Spelling difficulties
- Short attention span
- Headaches
- Frequent blinking
- Avoiding reading or homework
- Tilting the head to one side
- Losing their place often while reading
- Double vision
- Poor comprehension
Glasses, Contacts, and Other Treatments
If the Optometrist determines that your child has a vision problem, they may discuss a number of treatment options, such as:
- Glasses or contact lenses: Glasses or contact lenses can correct refractive errors, such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.
- Vision therapy: Vision therapy is a type of therapy that can help improve visual skills such as focusing, eye tracking, and hand-eye coordination.
- Myopia control: Myopia control management is a type of treatment that can help slow the progression of myopia (short-sightedness) in children.
What Happens During an Eye Test?
In addition to the basic visual acuity examination, an eye test may assess the following visual skills that are essential for effective learning and optimal sports performance:
- Binocular vision: Binocular vision is the ability of the two eyes to work together as a team. It is essential for depth perception and hand-eye coordination.
- Focusing: Focusing is the ability to adjust the focus of the eye to see objects at different distances clearly.
- Convergence: Convergence is the ability of the two eyes to turn inward to focus on a close object.
- Eye tracking: Eye tracking is the ability to move the eyes smoothly and accurately to follow moving objects.
- Colour vision: Colour vision is the ability to distinguish between different colours.