During the infant and toddler years, your child has been developing many vision
skills and has been learning how to see. In the preschool years, this process
continues, as your child develops visually guided eye-hand-body coordination,
fine motor skills and the visual motor skills necessary to learn to read.
As
a parent, you should watch for signs that may indicate a vision development
problem, including a short attention span for the child's age; difficulty with
eye-hand-body coordination in ball play and bike riding; avoidance of coloring
and puzzles and other detailed activities.
There are everyday things that you can do at home to help your preschooler's
vision develop as it should.
These activities include reading aloud to your child and letting him or her
see what you are reading; providing a chalkboard, finger paints and different
shaped blocks and showing your child how to use them in imaginative play;
providing safe opportunities to use playground equipment like a jungle gym and
balance beam; and allowing time for interacting with other children and for
playing independently.
By age three, your child should have a thorough optometric eye examination to
make sure your preschooler's vision is developing properly and there is no
evidence of eye disease. If needed, your doctor can prescribe treatment
including glasses and/or vision therapy to correct a vision development problem.
Here are several tips to make your child's optometric examination a positive
experience: 1) Make an appointment early in the day. Allow about one hour. 2)
Talk about the examination in advance and encourage your child's questions. 3)
Explain the examination in your child's terms, comparing the E chart to a puzzle
and the instruments to tiny flashlights and a kaleidoscope.
Unless your doctor of optometry advises otherwise, your child's next eye
examination should be at age five. By comparing test results of the two
examinations, your optometrist can tell how well your child's vision is
developing for the next major step...into the school years.
