Children’s Eye Exams

Strong Vision is Essential to Your Child’s Success

Experts around the world seem to agree that 80% of learning is visual. Whether it is learning to read or learning to drive, we rely on our eyesight to gather information and develop new skills.

Every parent wants to give their child the necessary tools for success. One of the most important things you can do for your child is to schedule regular eye exams for them. Ensuring their vision is healthy and continuing to develop on track is one major step towards securing a clear future, developmentally, academically, and even socially.

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How Often do Children Need an Eye Exam?

Most children should have their first eye exam between the ages of 6 and 9 months, according to the Canadian Association of Optometrists. After their first appointment, we recommend bringing your child back for subsequent exams every year.

As every parent knows, children grow at an incredible rate. Annual eye exams help ensure that any changes to their eyes brought on by growth and development are recorded and monitored. As a result, we can take a proactive approach to your child’s visual health.

What to Expect From a Child’s Eye Exam

At Visual Sense Eye Care, we tailor our exam process to your child’s age and temperament. We have parents join us during the examination to help your child feel comfortable, and to ensure you get all the information you need.

In addition to evaluating your child’s near and distance acuity, we will assess their binocular vision skills such as eye teaming and eye tracking. This approach allows us to ensure your child’s visual system is developing on track, in addition to the health of their eyes.

After the exam, we will go over our findings with you, including any prescriptions we issue or treatment plans we recommend.

Common Childhood Eye Issues

Myopia

Myopia, or nearsightedness often develops in childhood, and progressively worsens as children grow older. Through a process called myopia control, we can slow myopia’s progression, which prevents children from relying on significantly heavier prescriptions once they reach adulthood.

Myopia control is non-surgical and non-invasive. In fact, the 3 methods of myopia control available through Visual Sense Eye Care all use special kinds of contact lenses.

Learn more about myopia control.

Amblyopia (Lazy Eye)

Our visual system is not fully developed when we are born. It takes visual experiences and interaction with the world to develop vision properly.  As we develop, the visual system becomes more fine-tuned and efficient with both eyes working together to gather information, which the brain then merges into a single image. However, when something prevents either one or both eyes to develop properly in the first 6 years of life, whether that be from a very high prescription, eye turn (strabismus) or something preventing light getting into the eye (congenital cataracts or significant lid droop), the eyes do not work together properly, the brain cannot merge the information into a single clear image. 

Rather than trying to make sense of two overlapping images of different clarity or dealing with double images, the brain can start to ignore the blurry image from one eye. As a result, the brain no longer pays attention to that eye and the visual connections do not develop.. This is what is known as amblyopia or a “lazy eye.” Amblyopia is when one or both eyes is not 20/20 in the absence of any structural anomalies or ocular disease, and in the presence of uncorrected high prescription, constant strabismus or sensory deprivation before the age of 6 years.

Children do not grow out of a lazy eye, and without treatment at an early age, it can lead to lifelong vision loss. Research over the past several years have shown that the brain is neuro-plastic and even if you are an adult with lazy eye, vision can develop later in life, but the development is the most dramatic when treated early on in life.

Read more about amblyopia (lazy eye).

Learning & Developmental Struggles

Many learning and developmental conditions like ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Down Syndrome, and Global Delay have a higher prevalence of vision problems. In fact, children with a learning disability are 10 times more likely to have a vision issue than neurotypical children.

Unfortunately, many symptoms of eye problems can mimic learning disabilities and developmental conditions, which makes them harder to diagnose. Treating the vision problems can make it easier to manage or treat the neurological or genetic conditions gives children more of the tools they need to succeed.

Read more about learning-related vision difficulties.