Did you see that? Or would you have missed it, like my youngest brother did for the first 11 years of his life? Glasses for Kids, is a program currently being tested in schools, to screen kids for the need for glasses. If this initiative had been around back in the day, my youngest brother (and others like him) would not have had to wait until he was almost a teenager for someone to realise his constant squinting wasn’t just a habit. That was about 45 years ago now, when kids often had to just put up with things- because, well, that’s just how it was.
Problem solved
Up until then, my brother had struggled to see the blackboard in class. When he complained about not being able to see it, the problem was solved by simply moving him to the front of the class. Wouldn’t you think that one of the nuns who taught him at the Catholic school he attended might have picked up on that as a sign of poor eyesight?
Years later …
I remember the day I took him to pick up his first pair of glasses. I’m not sure why it was me who went along with him, but it didn’t matter—Mum and Dad were probably working. As soon as we stepped out of the optometrist’s shop, he put his glasses on and was immediately amazed. He could clearly see the writing on the signs. He hadn’t realised that most people could see signs clearly from a distance.
He became even more excited when we got to the car park, pointing at the trees and not quite believing he could actually see the leaves. Up until that moment, the leaves had always been a fuzzy green mass; he’d assumed you had to be right up close to pick out individual leaves. In fact, everything in the distance had been a fuzzy, blurry mass prior to getting glasses.
My brother has myopia (near-sightedness), which meant he could see objects up close but had difficulty seeing things further away. No one realised this earlier, maybe partly because he was a brilliant pianist from a young age. He could read sheet music perfectly, but anything beyond that was blurry.
In many ways, his story is similar to mine. No one knew I had a vision problem either, but unlike his, mine was more complicated in a way that glasses couldn’t fix it.
Why disadvantaged schools? Well, why not?
The Glasses for Kids program is a great new initiative because it can detect common conditions like myopia and others that can be corrected with glasses from an early age. The program’s emphasis on disadvantaged schools is especially valuable, as families in these communities often lack the resources to afford glasses if needed. In contrast, families with children in more affluent schools are more likely to be able to cover such expenses – similar to dental braces. After all, it’s rare to see a kid with a full set of braces in a lower socio-economic school. Hopefully though, we’ll start seeing more kids from all backgrounds wearing the glasses they need.
This program could be a game-changer for some children, who might otherwise struggle with undiagnosed vision challenges, giving them a stronger chance to succeed in school. Without early intervention, they risk becoming yet another statistic – a student who faces challenges in the public school system.
However, the program has its limitations because it only addresses vision issues that can be corrected with glasses. Some children may have progressive vision loss, and without early detection, they could fall behind in school and face lifelong challenges. Additionally, children who seem to read well and pass standard eye exams with 6/6 vision, could still exhibit symptoms of deeper, undetected issues that require attention.
Signs that can indicate underlying vision struggles
Behavioural cues like squinting, frequent headaches, or sitting too close to screens, are often linked to vision problems. Academic difficulties, especially in reading and writing, as well as apparent clumsiness, hopelessness at sport – in particular ball sports, are often symptoms of eyesight challenges. And then there may be unusual head movements, such as tilting the head or covering an eye, which could also be compensating for unseen vision issues.
As a child, I had all those symptoms, yet I was diagnosed with ‘clumsiness’ by my parents, teachers and others around me. It became a thing really. However, when researching this topic, I’ve learned that all these were significant symptoms of vision impairment. In my early life, it was merely fobbed off as clumsiness.
An excerpt from my life story – The Secret
It started in my childhood. My parents brushed it off as clumsiness. I bumped into walls, doors, furniture. Outside it was worse. I bumped into signs, fell into holes, and tripped over constantly.
Mealtimes often ended badly because I’d spill my drink or knock something off the table and break it. At school no one wanted me on their team because I was hopeless at ball sports. I couldn’t hit them, catch them, or even chase them. Academically I wasn’t too bad, but I had to put the effort in. I did a lot of reading and re-reading because lots of things just didn’t make sense. They don’t if you miss whole sentences.
The eye chart alone is not the answer
The Glasses for Kids program detects vision problems through basic eye chart tests, identifying issues that can be corrected with glasses. To fully assess a child’s visual abilities, tests for depth perception, peripheral vision, and visual processing are vital, as these can reveal conditions missed by an eye chart alone.
It’s important for teachers and parents to be aware of these signs, even if there is no known history of vision loss in the family, as symptoms like these could indicate a hidden issue. Dismissing them as mere clumsiness could jeopardise a child’s future path. They might pursue a career that is totally unsuitable for someone with undiagnosed vision loss, potentially leading to the need for a career change later – or worse, resulting in an accident in the workplace.
So that’s it!
Hopefully this information story will help all of us to identify potential vision loss, not just in kids but older people as well.
Featured image
This is a photo of my grandson, Kieran, demonstrating squinting. He always squints for the camera but doesn’t have any underlying vision impairment.
Thanks Buddy!
