{"id":7066,"date":"2013-05-22T09:20:34","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T08:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livingwithkids.co.uk\/?p=7066"},"modified":"2016-09-01T13:41:03","modified_gmt":"2016-09-01T12:41:03","slug":"do-your-kids-need-their-eyes-tested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/do-your-kids-need-their-eyes-tested\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Your Kids Need Their Eyes Tested?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Does your child need his\/her eyes tested? Or do you assume they’d tell you if they were having trouble seeing or even that you’d notice?<\/h3>\r\nI wore glasses as a child. Although my eye sight was appalling for many years, I didn’t say anything.<\/strong>\r\n

Why?<\/h3>\r\nWell, because I thought all people saw the same bad way as me. This was because no one ever told me otherwise.\r\n\r\nIt’s one reason why the\u00a0Eyecare Trust<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0warning that all children need their eyes tested. One in five school-aged children has an undiagnosed vision problem that could interfere with their ability to learn.\r\n\r\nGood\u00a0vision during a child’s early years, before the age of 12 is vital. As visual learning accounts for 80 per cent of the learning process.\r\n

Expert Advice<\/h3>\r\n\u201cSome children are inaccurately labelled as slow learners, dyslexic or even troublemakers when in fact they have an undetected vision condition<\/em>,\u201d explains Iain Anderson, Chairman of the Eyecare Trust.\u00a0There are a number of tell-tale signs that your child may be experiencing problems with their vision. If you recognise any of these take your child for an eye examination.Tell-tale signs your child could have a vision or eye-related problem:\r\n

Pre-schoolers<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nTend to bump into objects, have red eyes or lids, they avoid colouring, puzzles or detailed activity, has difficulty with eye-hand-body co-ordination, rub eyes frequently.\r\n

School-age children<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nLose place while reading, has headaches and tends to rub eyes frequently, makes frequent reversals when reading or writing, has poor handwriting, holds reading material close.\r\n\r\nThe Eyecare Trust recommends that every child aged eight years or younger has an annual eye examination and children aged nine years plus (and adults) have an eye examination every two years.\r\n

Cost and Style<\/h3>\r\nIf your child does need glasses don’t despair over cost and style of specs. Kids spec styles have come a long way. Companies like\u00a0Specsavers have a fantastic selection of kids ranges from Lego<\/a>, to Star Wars and Hello Kitty and Disney<\/a>. All these ranges are priced at \u00a364, which is great because all under 16’s are entitled to a free NHS eye test and an NHS optical voucher to use against payment. All specs in the\u00a0Specsavers\u00a0kids’ range come with super tough lenses free (so tough that they’re guaranteed to never break, crack or chip), they’re also scratch-resistant, lightweight and provide 100% UV protection.\r\n

Related Article<\/h3>\r\n
Healthy TV Habits for Children<\/a><\/blockquote>