August is Children’s Eye Health Month! Advanced Eyecare Optometry is helping to raise awareness of children’s vision and eye health now that it’s time to head back to school! Healthy vision relates to school readiness, kid’s ability to learn and their overall healthy development and ability to reach motor development milestones. Vision screenings and eyecare are essential components of  a strong vision and health care system.

If you or your pediatrician suspects that your child may have a vision problem, you can make an appointment for further testing. It is important to note there are additional warning signs that may indicate a possible vision problem with your child.

Parents should be on alert for the following:

  • Sitting close to the TV or holding a book too close
  • Squinting
  • Tilting their head
  • Frequent rubbing of the eyes
  • Short attention span (dependent on the child’s age)
  • Turning of an eye in or out
  • Sensitivity to light
  • Difficulty with eye-hand-body coordination when playing ball or bike riding
  • Avoiding coloring activities, puzzles and other detailed activities
  • Disinterest in reading or viewing distant objects
  • Poor school performance – even in a pre-school environment

August is Children’s Eye Health Month Resources

Help us share these resources from PreventBlindness.org with parents/caregivers and colleagues :

–Language for a newsletter article or blog post

–List of resources for parents and caregivers as well as professionals

–Children’s Vision Month press release

As always, the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness is available for presentations, webinars, and technical assistance on the connection of vision to learning, the importance of early detection of vision conditions, and evidence-based vision screening methods and tools.

For more information about the National Center or the resources described here, contact Donna Fishman, MPH at dfishman@preventblindness.org


For more helpful eye care and vision care tips, please visit our main blog page.

Sources: https://preventblindness.org  and https://lowvisionmd.org

Image by Luisella Planeta Leoni from Pixabay