Your Children--When Should I Have Their Eyes First Examined?
   by Brian Fiddler, O.D.

According to the American Optometric Association, every child should have their eyes examined by a professional by the age of 6 months.  This examination is mainly to check the eye for congenital abnormalities such as cataracts and glaucoma.  Although rare, early diagnosis and treatment of these disorders are important to your child’s development.

At around 3 years of age, your child should have their eyes re-examined. This is an age when your childs visual system undergoes its most rapid development, and is also a time when vision correction is most effective. As a parent, if you notice any of the following symptoms, your child may have a vision development problem:

 

  1. Eye turning in or out:  This is known as strabismus and may lead to a condition known as lazy eye or amblyopia. Amblyopia occurs when one eye lacks development often resulting in a failure of the visual system to use both eyes together.  The lazy eye does not function as well as the other good seeing eye. The brain thus chooses to use the images seen by the good eye and ignores the image seen by the lazy eye.
     
  2. Attention: Short attention span for child’s age
     
  3. Coordination: Difficulty with eye-hand-body coordination while playing ball or riding a bike
     
  4. Behavior: Avoiding coloring or putting puzzles together
     
  5. Squinting eyes to see things

Finally, we recommend your child be re-examined by age 5 before entering grade school. A child’s ability to function academically, socially and in sports is often a direct result of their vision. ©

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