Poor vision can affect school performance
By Dr. John Wood, OP Special to the Acorn

More than 80 percent of learning in the classroom results from vision. If a vision problem exists, your child may have difficulty with reading comprehension and retaining information, which may result in poor grades.

Studies have shown that about 25 percent of high school students will fail a simple vision screening of 20/40 in at least one eye. This is the same standard that the DMV uses. Because of this, a growing number of states are requiring incoming students to have comprehensive exams before entering the first grade.

Teaching in the classroom has changed over the years from distance viewing of the blackboard to close-up work with reading and computers. This requires greater effort for maintaining clear and comfortable focus. Thus eyestrain, headaches during or after school, visual fatigue, holding reading material very close and squinting are some of the symptoms children may exhibit. Extended use of handheld video games and computer games can cause the same symptoms. These problems are caused by "refractive errors."

If your child is nearsighted (myopic), the distance vision is blurred. This affects about 30 percent of the population. Farsightedness (hyperopia) and astigmatism cause near vision/ reading blur and can make extended reading much more difficult. A majority of children- more than 50 percent- fall into this latter category. Signs of this may be too subtle to be picked up in vision screenings by the school nurse.

Poor vision can also result in poor performance in sports, especially in projectile sports such as baseball, softball and tennis. Glasses and contact lenses are worn to correct these problems.

The school nursing staff performs excellent vision screenings. However, these screenings are not performed on every student each year, and only the students needing higher prescriptions may fail the screening. Many children have more subtle issues that will not be discovered through the screening but will still delay learning and result in poor school performance and grades.

Eye examinations also uncover other conditions, such as "lazy eye," where both eyes may not point in the same direction, or amblyopia, where one eye has significantly worse vision than the other eye, as well as general eye disease.

If a youngster is having trouble in school, an eye examination should be performed, including near vision testing. As children grow and mature, vision change occurs, and visual tasks which were easily performed previously may no longer be so easy or possible without appropriate visual correction.

Studies have shown that parents typically delay 18 months between when kids fail school screenings and when they are examined to correct the problem.

John Wood, OD, practices at Moorpark Optometric Eyecare, 525-F Los Angeles Ave., Moorpark. To make an appointment, call (805) 529-5497.