Vision Sensory Health Issues Affecting the Y outh

Vision Sensory Health Issues Affecting the Youth Whitney Scott 1/10/12 EEC-4731 Spring 2012 Dr. Tara Saathoff-Wells

Relevant Health Issues Regarding • Sensory Development: • Vision

Sensory Development • The sensory development affects all of the parameters of children's growth and development. • Senses affected by the sensory development are vision, hearing, smell, touch, and tastes. • Theses senses are depended on by children to receive, interpret, process, and respond to information in their environments.

Sensory Develop Continued.. • The optical functioning of the sensory system is imperative particularly during the early stages of a child's growth and development.

Early Signs of Visual Abnormalities in Infants and Toddlers: • Roving eye movements that are suggestive of blindness. • Eyes that wander in opposite directions or are crossed. • Jerky or fluttering eye movements. • Chronic tearing. • Cloudiness on eyeball. • Absence of a blink reflex. • Etc.

Signs of Visual Acuity Problems in Older Children: • Rubbing eyes often. • Attempts to brush away blurs. • Is often irritable with close work • Strains to see objects in the distance, squints, or scews up face. • Appears cross-eyed at times. • Tilts head to one side. • Complains of repeated headaches or double vision. • Etc.

Methods Used to Declare Visual Impairments: • Vision Screenings • Eye Evaluations

Common Disorders of Vision Impairments: • Amblyopia • Strabismus • Myopia

Amblyopia • Or often called “lazy eye” affects around 2 percent of all young children younger than the age of 10.

Causes of Amblyopia: • This disorder is a health issue that can be a result of mothers who smoke. • Amblyopia is caused by a muscle imbalance and even childhood cataracts that result in blurred or double vision. • With this disorder a child's brain finds this particular distortion to be confusing. Therefore, they start to only recognize images received from the stronger eye while ignoring those from the weaker or lazy eye.

Resolutions and Treatments: • Early identification for disorder to prevent extreme severities through screenings, checkups, and etc. • Wearing a corrective eye patch. • Corrective eye glasses. • Eye drops. • Special eye exercises.

Strabismus • Is commonly referred to as being cross eyed, and also causes a observable misalignment of children's eyes that takes place intermittently or consistently. • Example: Both eyes tend to run inward. • One eye may turn inward or outward.

Causes of Strabismus: • Since strabismus can be classified as several types, each specific type has its own causes, characteristics, and treatment plans. • Some of the most common causes are: • genetics, inappropriate development of the "fusion center" of the brain, problems with the controlled center of the brain, injuries to muscles or nerves; or other problems involving the muscles or nerves. • http://www.strabismus.org/what_causes_strabismus.html

Resolutions and Treatments: • Early identification for disorder to prevent extreme severities through screenings, checkups, and etc. • Surgical correction. • Patching of the unaffected eye. • Eye exercises. • Bifocals to eliminate the eye turn.

Myopia • Is defined as nearsightedness in an individual who has good near vision but poor distant vision.

Causes of Myopia: • Some myopia is cause by the natural change in the shape of the eyeball. When the shape is altered ,light to focuses in front of the retina instead of directly on the retina. • Myopia can also be a disorder that is usually inherited. It is common for children to be nearsighted if one or both parents are. • Other reasons for myopia may include: • Pathological myopia, in which the back of the eyeball continues to grow longer after reaching normal adult size. • Secondary myopia, which may develop as a result of many conditions, including premature birth and a number of eye diseases. • Pseudomyopia, or sudden nearsightedness that rapidly gets worse because of another illness, such as uncontrolled diabetes • http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/tc/nearsightedness-myopia-cause

Resolutions and Treatments: • Early identification for disorder to prevent extreme severities through screenings, checkups, and etc. • Wearing glasses or contact lenses to correct vision. • Having surgery to correct disorder.

Conclusion • With vision disorders continuing to be a growing and relevant issue in children's health today, it is imperative that the proper treatments and precautions are taken. As a EC professional, I would help address this issue by assisting to inform, enforce, and advocate for regular screenings, eye exams, education on eye disorders, and etc. As a result it will help prevent children from having to endure extreme circumstances , and also help others already affected receive the proper treatment and information needed to better their circumstance.

References • Hirsh, Lynn R. Health, Safety, and Nutrition for the Young child.New York: Thompson Delmar Learning, 2009. Print. • http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/tc/nearsightedness-myopia-cause • http://www.strabismus.org/what_causes_strabismus.html

Vision Sensory Health Issues Affecting the Y outh