Visiting an Optometrist vs Pediatrician screening or school nurse screening

Dr. Craig Schacherer

Does my child need to see an eye doctor to check their vision?

A common question we get at Wylie Vision Care is should my child see an eye doctor? Why can't they just see if their vision is determined to be ok from the school eye exam or their pediatrician? While it's true they can test your child's distance vision, they are not going to be testing their near vision, the health of the eye, and more. Since learning is 80% vision, this is vital to the development of your child. If you find it important to bring your child for regular doctor check-ups and dentist visits, why not also bring them to see the eye doctor?

What to expect from a pediatric eye doctor visit

We can't begin to describe how many times we have Wylie parents come in complaining about their child's behavioral issue and they just don't know what to do. Often, this is because the child isn't seeing the material in school well. They can see the chalkboard but cant read a book. They may have been told by the school nurse that their vision is 20/20 but there could be a dozen other issues that they aren't catching.

An eye doctor will give your child a comprehensive eye exam that looks at the following:

• Near vision and distance vision - how well they can read up close and at a distance
• Focusing skills - can the eyes focus on items near and far
• Binocular Vision/Fusion - do the eyes work together or do they drift apart? Is there eye coordination? If not, they may have Binocular Vision Dysfunction
• Lazy eye - making sure one eye isn't dragging when the other is moving

What will happen if these problems aren't detected?

When a child doesn't see well, they don't learn well. It's that simple. That's why it's very important to take children for eye exams with an eye doctor and not just rely on the exam given at school. Give us a call at 982-449-9090 to see how we can help!