As the summer winds down and parents start planning for back-to-school we will be reminding them to schedule their child's annual, comprehensive eye exam.
August was first declared Vision & Learning Month in 1995. The overall goal of this national observance is to help increase awareness among parents and educators on the prevalence of undiagnosed or misdiagnosed vision problems.
Due to the incomplete nature of in-school eye screenings, many vision problems can be missed completely or misdiagnosed as other conditions like ADHD.
Children who grow up with undiagnosed vision problems are often unaware that what they see is abnormal, and that means they don't know to ask for help. The yearly Vision & Learning Month campaign encourages parents to take their children in for a comprehensive vision exam every year.
Children with vision problems that are not diagnosed and treated may struggle in school and often go on to be adults with the same vision problems--children do not "grow out of" these difficulties.