Children's Vision Month

4 Children's Vision Month 2014 Supplement to the Winnipeg Free Press | Saturday, October 18 A child's vision is critical to learning. Yet, only 14 per cent of children in Canada have comprehensive eye exams before age six. That can lead to problems once a child starts school, said Dr. Cory Samborski, who's based out of the Concordia Eye Centre. "About 25 per cent of kids have vision problems that impact their ability to learn," he said. "Unfortunately, most kids don't let their parents know they have a vision problem because they don't know their vision is abnormal. And while it's difficult to determine if kids have a vision problem without an exam, there are signs you can look for that may indicate a vision problem." Samborski added those signs can vary in their scope. "They run from complaining of blurred vision to tired eyes, poor reading comprehension, headaches while reading, short attention span, difficulty distinguishing between different letters or words to trouble copying from the board at school," he said. "If undiagnosed, some conditions can lead to a learning disability, or just prevent children from performing to their potential at school." While some vision problems are more common, such as myopia, or nearsightedness – which is more easy to detect – some conditions are more difficult to detect. One example is accommodative vision problems. "That refers to how a child's eyes focus. Basically, our eyes are like an auto-focus lens on a camera. When the lens works properly, we see things as we should, without distortion. However, with accommodative vision problems, a child's eye can go in or out of focus," explained Samborski. There are two types of accommodative problems – insufficiency, which is the inability of an eye to focus, and accommodative excess, which can cause an eye to focus too much. Either condition can be very disorienting. Another condition, convergence insufficiency, can also cause major vision problems for children. "This condition pertains to the inability of eyes to turn in and focus properly on a point when reading," he said. "That can be very frustrating for a child, to the point that they no longer want to read, or don't want to do their homework. Vision problems such as accommodative insufficiency and excess as well as convergence insufficiency can hinder a child's ability to learn. Even smaller problems can hold kids back. What might be diagnosed as a learning disability could well be a visual problem." With that in mind, Samborski said it's essential to get your child's eyes checked by an optometrist from an early age. "It's the only way to detect a problem or identify a potential problem. … Such an exam is comprehensive, and far more effective in diagnosing vision problems than standard school screenings," he said. Should a comprehensive eye exam pinpoint a vision problem, it can be corrected with glasses – or by undergoing vision therapy. "Vision therapy is an individualized treatment program designed to help patients with visual problems that glasses and contact lenses can't help," he said. "The goal of vision therapy is to resolve vision problems using procedures that can improve visual function and performance." How exactly does vision therapy work? Optometrist Doug Puttaert likens vision therapy to 'physiotherapy for your eyes.' "There are six muscles for each eye and they have to communicate with each other. They also have to communicate with the muscles in the other eye. That neurology and that musculature is amenable to training through vision therapy," said Puttaert, of Village Family Eye Care and Steinbach Professional Eye Care Centre. Most programs consist of weekly in-office visits, along with at- home activities that help reinforce the skills learned in-office. Each program is tailored to meet the needs of a child's visual problems. "Procedures help patients co-ordinate their eyes and improve their brain's efficiency at processing visual information," Samborski said. "Visual assessments are performed prior to therapy to assess a patient's ability to focus their eyes, co-ordinate eye movements and process visual information," said Samborski. The results that come from fitting a child with glasses (or prisms) or doing visual therapy can be stunning, Samborski added. "I've seen some great reactions. In many cases, a child will put on a pair of glasses and see details they've never seen – to them, a whole new world has been opened up. That's why it's so important to get your kids' eyes examined. Doing that on a regular basis can detect problems early on, or correct problems that crop up as they get older. With good eyesight, kids will be able to function well at school and life, and be free to reach their full potential." Dr. Doug Puttaert demonstates a vision therapy instrument known as a tranaglyph. Each eye looks through training glasses with special filters that create a different image in each eye. By moving the images in or out, binocular 3D vision can be assessed and trained. Photo by Darcy Finley By Todd Lewys & Jennifer McFee For the Free Press Good vision key to kids' ability to excel at school, life

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