Pediatric Eye Exams

Learning is visual especially for infants who develop and learn about the world around them. According to the American Optometric Association (AOA) children should have their eyes examined by an eye doctor at 6 months, 3 years, at the start of school, and then at least every 2 years following. If there are any signs that there may be a vision problems more frequent exams are recommended. A child that wears eyeglasses or contact lenses should have his or her eyes examined yearly. Children’s eyes change rapidly as they grow.

A baby’s vision develops gradually over the first few months of life. With the development of eyesight, comes motor development such as crawling, walking, and hand-eye coordination.  Keep an eye on what is happening with your infant’s development by ensuring that you schedule an infant eye exam at 6 months. At this exam at Eye Expressions, in Palm Beach Gardens, Dr. DeCanio will check that your child is developing on track and look for conditions that could impair eye health or vision.

The toddler and preschool age is the time they will develop the fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and perceptual abilities that will help them to read and write, play sports and learn to be creative. This is all dependent upon good vision and visual processes.   Parents should also be aware of any developmental delays having to do with objects, numbers or letter recognition, color recognition or coordination.  These problems can often be visual. If you notice your child squinting, rubbing his eyes frequently, sitting very close to the tv or reading material, or generally avoiding activities such as puzzles or coloring, it is worth a trip to Eye Expressions.

If your child is having trouble in school or afterschool activities there could be an underlying vision problem. Proper learning, motor development, reading, and many other skills are dependent upon good vision. Children that have problems with focusing, reading, teaming their eyes or hand-eye coordination will often experience frustration, and may exhibit behavioral problems as well. Most times, kids don’t  know that the vision they are experiencing is abnormal, and they aren’t able to express that they need help. In addition to the symptoms written above, signs of vision problems in older children include:

 

• Short attention span
• Headaches
• Frequent blinking
• Avoiding reading
• Tilting the head to one side
• Losing their place often while reading
• Double vision
• Poor reading comprehension