Today, Dr Lee had the opportunity to speak with teachers at William Dunbar PS about hidden visual problems which can impact learning. Students at this school are lucky to have a wonderful team of teachers dedicated to finding resources to help kids reach their full learning potential! They’re working hard while you kids have a day off 🙂
Wishing everyone a safe and happy family day weekend!
This week, Dr. Lee partnered with Kids2See to provide free vision screenings for JK and SK students at Secord Elementary School in Toronto. Kids2See is an initiative run by University of Toronto Med students Emily Wright, Aaron Chan and Eli Kisilevsky with the purpose of  identifying children with vision impairments which require early treatment, and ensuring that they receive a complete eye exam from a qualified eye specialist further to the screening. They also strive to educate parents and school officials on the importance of routine eye exams, as 10-20% of vision problems may be missed by the screening. The school screenings only flag certain problems, so it is still important to have yearly comprehensive eye exams for complete assessment of your child’s eye health.
Kids2See will be visiting other schools weekly throughout November – January. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to help out! 🙂
*No pictures of the kids due to privacy reasons
Here‘s more Vision Therapy in the news!
1 in 4 students has a vision problem! 80% of what a child learns comes through vision, so a problem could prevent a child from earning the grades he/she should.
Here are some red flags:
Watch the video to hear how vision therapy helped Spencer
Does your child take an unusually long time to finish homework? Do you have to get into a “homework war” every night to get things done? Your child is not being lazy. Homework might be very difficult and uncomfortable if he/she is suffering from a vision problem.
If you are baffled because your child is passing 20/20 vision tests, but still complains about reading the chalkboard or worksheets, has headaches or blurred vision, or is just plain struggling in school, it’s important to rule out any visual challenges. The first step is to book a Visual Skills Assessment.
Click here to read about Nicholas, a second grade student who was very bright and had a good memory, but spent 2-3 hours on homework every night. The problem was convergence insufficiency, and he improved his reading and hand-eye coordination in sports with Vision Therapy.
“Whether it is the mystery of the bright child who struggles with reading or the child who takes forever to do homework, the story is often the same,” shares Ida Chung, OD, FCOVD, President of COVD, “these children continue to struggle until the underlying vision problem is identified and treated.”
Click here to read the story about 9-year-old Zach, who had frequent headaches, rubbed his eyes in the classroom, and was often the last person to finish his work. The school nurse reported his vision was 20/20 and the pediatrician said his eyes were healthy and that he didn’t need glasses. He actually had a convergence insufficiency, which would not have been helped with glasses anyways. Some children need a functional eye exam which looks beyond health and the need for glasses. Read more