The Importance of Early Screening

I've just presented this topic on this morning for an eyecourse and I thought I would just share a few points here. Vision screening in children is really really important but unfortunately most people take it for granted. Sometimes most parents are not aware that their child is having problem. But sadly sometimes parents didn't bother to have a proper eye examination for their children just because they assume their children is lying when they complain they cannot see well. Eye disease or eye problems are not selective. It happens to anyone regarding any age.

Vision is not really about seeing well or seeing 6/6 only (6/6 is the smallest line of letters on the Snellen chart) Vision includes color vision, visual field and binocular vision. So, even if a child can read 6/6 yet the eye is not aligned, it's something to look at. Or if a child sees well but keeps confusing colour, painting the grass red instead of green, miscalculate the number of green balls in maths class, that's something to be properly examine.

But really screening is important because children mostly didn't realize when they have vision problem. Why? Because they have no idea that they're seeing differently than anyone else. They didn't know because their vision is the only vision they have known. They thought that's how other people sees too. So hopefully by screening, any problem could be detected for earlier intervention. Without early detection and treatment, a child's vision problem can lead to permanent visual loss and subsequently learning difficulties.

Some tips for the parents. When to be concerned:

• When the child is not fixing and following at 3 months old
• the child is reading or watching tv at close distance
• there is abnormal head posture such as face turn, head tilt, chin depressed or elevated
• squinting eye or closing one eye to see things at distance
• there's a tendency to bump into objects

The recommended guideline will be to have screening as babies, at 3 years old and again before entering school.

And of course, screening should be done by a qualified practitioner. Preferably an optometrist. No child is too early for an eye examination.