Is Your Child Ready for School?

To all of the amazing parents out there: We see you! You spend weeks preparing your children for a successful school year. You buy backpacks, pens and pencils, stock up on notebooks, and check off every item on that lengthy school supply list, including all of those glue sticks. (We don’t know why you need so many either.)

But even the best parents sometimes miss one essential back-to-school list item that is critical to your student’s success: a healthy, functioning visual system.

Whether your child is learning their ABCs in kindergarten, tackling algebra in middle school, learning to drive in high school, or packing up for college, clear, comfortable vision plays a vital role in learning every single day.

You may have heard that 80% of learning comes in through your child’s visual system. It’s a fact: Your student relies heavily on their visual system to absorb information, participate in classes, and complete assignments at every stage of their education. If they aren’t seeing their best, they likely aren’t learning their best.

That’s why scheduling their back-to-school eye exam is so important: Good vision can give your student the edge they need to perform their best both in and out of the classroom.

Learning and Healthy Vision are Interconnected

When you think about vision in the classroom, you may think about seeing the whiteboard clearly so you can read the words on it.

Yes, that is a critical function of good vision! And, a functioning visual system involves much more than reading from across the room.

Consider all of the daily activities where your student needs good vision:

• Reading books, worksheets, tablets
• Viewing smartboards and presentations
• Taking notes and creating artwork
• Completing homework
• Participating in science labs
• Playing sports
• Navigating busy hallways
• Recognizing facial expressions and social cues

 

These activities require multiple visual skills working together, including accurate distance and close-up vision, eye focusing, eye teaming, depth perception, and healthy eye movement.

If even one of those skills isn’t working properly, school becomes much harder than it needs to be.

Why Vision Problems Don’t Always Look Like Vision Problems

Many kids don’t realize they aren’t seeing normally because they have no basis for comparison of what “normal good vision” is. You don’t know what you don’t know!

Instead of telling you they can’t see well, kids simply adapt. It’s often up to parents and teachers to notice telltale behaviors that may indicate a visual problem:

• Squinting or rubbing their eyes
• Frequent headaches
• Holding a book very close
• Losing their place while reading
• Refusing to read altogether
• Complaining of tired eyes
• Difficulty concentrating on homework
• Declining grades
• Tilting their head while reading

These symptoms don’t always mean your child has a vision problem, but they are valid reasons to schedule a comprehensive eye exam.

Visual Demands Evolve as Your Student Grows

A student’s visual needs change as they grow.

Elementary School Students

Young children learn foundational skills like recognizing letters, reading, writing, and developing hand-eye coordination. Undetected vision problems at this early stage can make learning frustrating when it should be more like fun.

Middle School Students

As homework increases and reading assignments lengthen, digital devices become part of daily learning. Tablets and laptops test your student’s visual system day after day. Students also spend more time participating in sports and extracurricular activities, where clear vision is key to both performance and safety.

High School Students

High school students spend hours reading textbooks, studying online, completing assignments, driving, and prepping for standardized tests. As their eyes grow and develop during the physical changes of adolescence, vision changes are common. An annual eye exam helps ensure they keep seeing their best.

College Students

College students give their vision a workout every day, spending far too many hours focused on screens while juggling lectures, studying, part-time jobs, and social activities.

Eye strain, dry eyes, headaches, and changing prescriptions are common concerns that can affect both comfort and productivity.

Rising Screen Time Makes Healthy Vision Even More Important

Today’s students use digital devices more than any generation before them.

Chromebooks, tablets, laptops, smartphones, and online assignments are everyday learning tools.

Although digital screens don’t permanently damage your eyes, extended screen time can contribute to symptoms of digital eye strain, including blurred vision, dry eyes, eye fatigue, headaches, and neck or shoulder tightness.

One simple strategy we recommend is the 20-20-20 Rule: Share with your student the importance of taking a quick break every 20 minutes, to focus on something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Even this brief break allows your eye’s focusing muscles to relax and can help reduce eye fatigue during long study sessions.

Pro tip: the 20-20-20 Rule can benefit anyone who spends time starting at screens, not just students!

Start the School Year with a Clear View

Whether your student is entering kindergarten or finishing college, an annual comprehensive eye exam ensures they have the visual skills necessary to learn at their highest level. When they see better, they learn better, and succeed better.

A word on school vision screenings: They are merely a basic screening; not a thorough eye exam. Screenings evaluate a student’s close-up and distance vision, but rarely measure other key visual system components that impact learning, including eye coordination, eye teaming, focusing skills, and depth perception. Vision problems that interfere with learning can easily be missed during a routine screening.

During a comprehensive eye exam, your optometrist evaluates every aspect of your student’s visual system to ensure their eyes are working seamlessly together to give your child every advantage to learn their best.

Has it been more than 12 months since your child’s last eye exam? Call or connect with us to schedule their back-to-school eye exam today.