Back to School: Get your child's eyes examined at Stephen Olwell Opticians

It’s that time of year again. Schools are back with a bang. My 2 older kids have just started in 3rd and 6th class, and I can’t believe that their school years are flying by so fast.

But they are, and now we have a new term, new teachers, huge heavy bags, not to mention the usual slog of lunch making and the battles to get them either into or out of bed.

School years are said to be the best years of our lives, but did you know that about 80% of all learning at school is done through the use of visual media. This means that seeing clearly is vitally important for the development of children and for their overall enjoyment of school and ability to learn.

As young children don’t know what they’re supposed to see, it can be very difficult to know if they have a problem, and often vision problems can cause learning and behavioural difficulties that could be easily helped.

Older children and young adults can also experience difficulties when moving from small classrooms to larger secondary school rooms and then on to lecture theatres.

Signs of vision problems in young children include:

• Eye rubbing or sensitivity to light.
• Sitting too close to the TV or closing one eye to see better.
• Headaches when reading or doing homework.
• Avoiding things that require good vision, like sports (distance vision) or reading (near vision).
• The appearance of an obvious “turn” or “squint” in one eye.

Signs of vision problems in teens or young adults generally include:

• Headaches across the brows or the back of the head.
• Problems reading text on a whiteboard or projector screen.
• Glare from phone/tablet screens or from lights at night.

From a young age, it is very important to keep a regular check on eyesight and eye health, to ensure that our children get the best possible chance of learning and development all of the way through their school lives.

We recommend that children first get their eyes tested as young as 3½ years old, if there are no obvious problems prior to this. This way they can start school with their best possible vision.

It is also very important that older children get their eyes tested when they change school situations, i.e. from primary to secondary to 3rd level. These are times when larger rooms can cause issues for shortsighted children, and the times when shortsightedness begins to progress.

So whether your child is starting school, or progressing up the school ladder, it’s worthwhile having their eyes examined now.

Stephen Olwell Opticians
Address: Unit 3, Hazelwood Shopping Centre, Longford, N39 EW84 | Tel: 043 33 42653
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