Are you worried about your child’s eyesight?
As a parent or carer, you’ll want to give any child the best start in life, which is why looking after their eyes is so important. Their vision helps them find out about you and the world around them – that’s because 80% of a child’s learning is through their sight.
Children usually have their eyes checked by the public health nurse during development assessments. This happens when your child is in junior or senior infant class at primary school.
During the check of your child’s eyes in primary school, the public health nurse will:
- note any concerns you wrote on the consent form and
- check your child’s vision using a special chart with letters
If your child is already wearing glasses they will be checked with their glasses on.
If the public health nurse highlights any issues, it is important to make sure you book your child in for an eye assessment as soon as possible.
Look out for these signs your child is struggling with their eyesight:
- They are sitting close up to the TV/other screens
If your child chooses to sit right up in front of the TV, it may not just be a sign that they’re engrossed in their favourite show. It’s probably that they can’t see the screen clearly from the sofa. If so, its time to book an appointment to have their sight tested.
2. They are closing one eye
Have you noticed your child covers up or closes one of their eyes when they’re trying to focus? That could be a sign they have a lazy eye. If they keep relying on the one strong eye they will further strengthen it and weaken the other one. A lazy eye could develop into a squint. But the younger and sooner this is picked up, the more chance there is of correcting it. If you look at a child with a lazy eye, if that is not corrected at that critical age between four and eight, they will end up with poor vision in that eye for the rest of their life, no matter what glasses they have.
3. They are struggling at school
If your child is falling behind with school work it could indicate that they’re having difficulty reading from the board. Similarly if they’re suddenly finding sport more challenging than before their eyesight might be to blame.
Of course there are a whole host of possible explanations but poor vision is one that can be easily ruled out with a quick check up.
4. They are always rubbing their eyes
When our eyesight is poor, we naturally blink to try to clear our vision. This can make our eyes watery so we wipe them more often. If you notice your child doing this it’s time to book in for a test.
CHILDREN OF ALL AGES ARE WELCOME AT OUR CARING & FRIENDLY CHILDREN’S CLINIC AT PROGRESSIVE VISION
At Progressive Vision, we pride ourselves on our expertise in working with our youngest patients. This is why we’ve developed a child friendly practice at our clinic in Sandyford. This is designed to relax children and make them feel welcome, while you can have important conversations with our experts.
Our state of the art equipment and highly trained experts in paediatric eye care at Progressive Vision can
- Provide a full eye assessment with vision check
- Manage Squint & lazy eye
- Myopia control and prescribing glasses
We do not require a referral from a GP or optician. Call us for an appointment on (01) 213 5652 or by emailing referrals@progressivevision.ie