An Early Childhood Eye Health and Vision Awareness Program

1. An Early Childhood Eye Health and Vision Awareness Program

2. (Place for presenters name, etc)

3. Finding ways we can improve our children’s education… is a big concern for parents, educators and the healthcare community alike! Quality classrooms, safe schools and well-trained teachers are essential to a good education But what about preparing the child?

4. We can make sure every child receives a comprehensive eye exam before entering school!

5. There is a need! • Healthy vision is critical to a child’s educational success and learning ability • Too many children enter school with an undiagnosed vision impairment • Early eye exams are an investment in the future

6. Children’s Vision FACTS… • Senses are CRITICAL to a child’s development, but VISION is the most vital sense • 80% of all learning during child’s first 12 years is obtained visually

7. Learning: Significance of Vision • Eighty percent (80%) of what children learn is acquired through the visual processingof information • Vision is a dominant process in the growth, development, and performance of children

8. Distinction betweenEYESIGHTandVISION • “Eyesight” is the ability to see objects clearly • “20/20 eyesight” simply means that, from a distance of twenty feet, a child can clearly see letters which are 1 cm in height

9. However…… • Children usually read books which they hold at a viewing distance of 30 to 40 cm from their eyes • Also, children view computer screens at a viewing distance of 50 to 60 cm from their eyes

10. Therefore… • 20/20 eyesight is not good enough; school children need good vision

11. Important components of vision: • Eyesight • Eye health • Eye teaming (the ability of the eyes to work properly together) • Eye focusing (the ability of the eyes to focus and shift focus at near point and distance) • Eye motility (the ability of the eyes to move together across a page of print, to directly view an object, or move from one viewing area to another)

12. Children’s Vision: Amblyopia • 4th most common disability in children* • 15,000 three-year-olds develop amblyopia yearly in Canada • Responsible for loss of vision in more people under 45 than all other ocular diseases and trauma combined • Half of all children with amblyopia are diagnosed after age five when therapy is often no longer as effective** *Source: National Society to Prevent Blindness **Source: American Journal of Ophthalmology

13. Prevalence of Vision Problems in Children • 10% of preschoolers have vision deficiencies -that increases to 25% in grades K-6* • Higher in children at-risk: 35-53% • 16.5% of 351 children tested had no visual problems** *Source: American Public Health Association **Source: Study of foster children, Dr. Robert Ducleman

14. The prevalence of vision disorders present in pre-school age children and the potential limitations of vision screening programs support the need and value of early detection through a comprehensive eye examination

15. Benefits to Early Detection • Lives are changed • Money is saved

16. When Vision Problems Remain Undetected: 1. Frustration with learning 2. Failure to learn at rate of peers 3. Negative Self Image 4. Possible Special Education 5. Discipline Problems/Young Offender Risk 6. Drop out 7. Prison/Welfare

17. Young Offender Risk & Vision Poor Vision Poor School Performance Young Offender Risk

18. Young Offenders & Vision • 70% had undetected vision problems* *Source: Virginia Study

19. Young Offenders & Vision SOCIETY’S TRUE COSTS: • Penal System • Institutions • Welfare System • Perpetual Cycle

20. Vision/ Learning Disabilities/ Special Education • 60% of children labeled as having learning problems have vision problems SOCIETY’S TRUE COSTS: • Special Education Budgets • Loss of Students “Potential” = PRICELESS

21. Alberta’s Education Numbers: (place your provincial stats here) • Education Budget: • $3.8 Billion K-12/ per year • $5.0 Billion spent overall to include post secondary education • Special Education Budget: $447 Million • Number of Children entering school: 42,825 • Alberta spends average of $92,300 per student in course of school career

22. Society’s TRUE COSTS of Undetected Vision Problems • Prison • Welfare • Unmet potential • Burden to education system

23. Shouldn’t we make sure that this “investment in education” is protected and fulfilled to the highest level?

24. Eye See…Eye Learn is an Early Childhood Eye Health and Vision Awareness Program

25. When working with any young child, all professionals have the added responsibility of fitting into the team of those who will help the child develop and, based on capability, grow into a responsible and productive citizen

26. In Alberta, the Eye See…Eye Learn program was…. A partnership between the Ministry of Children’s Services, Capital Health, East Central Health, EIPS and the Alberta Association of Optometrists that: • Targeted kindergarten children within the EIPS (school district) • Complete eye exams were recommended and verification was returned to the school to remain part of the child’s school record • After the final report and recommendations were submitted, the pilot became a PROGRAM within all school districts in Alberta

27. What did we learn! • Increased compliance from 14% to 45% • Teachers and parents overwhelmingly agreed with the program and wanted to see it continue • Government (Learning and Children’s Services) endorsed the program and a grant was allocated to allow a coordinator to implement the ESEL program across Alberta

28. Does Population Health have a role to play? • Absolutely!! • You are the entry point to prevention and wellness!

29. What do we know… • Children should have their 1st complete eye exam before their 1st birthday (6 months of age) • At 3 years of age • Before they enter school • Regularly thereafter

30. What has changed… • 25 years ago most experts believed infants could see very little • We now know that the visual system of infants is relatively mature at birth and undergoes rapid development in the early postnatal years.

31. Visual functions/abilities that have developed before a child’s 1st birthday… • Contrast sensitivity – 2-3 mos • Convergence – 2 mos • Accommodation – 2-3 mos • Smooth pursuit – 2-3 mos • Saccades – 3 mos • Color vision – 3-4 mos • Stereopsis – 6 mos • Visual acuity – 8 mos • Refractive error – 12 mos

32. Screenings vs Examinations • Screening methods vary greatly • Screenings generally check distance vision only

33. Screenings vs Examinations Exams test: • Near vision for reading and writing, in addition to distance • Accommodation/Focusing • Visual Perception • Eye Tracking • Refractive Error • Binocular Vision • Eye health

34. It is important to distinguish between a Comprehensive Vision Examinationand a Vision Screening

35. Vision problems in preschool children are detectable with a comprehensive eyeexamination; however, it is estimated that only 14% of children below the age of 6years receive an eye examination • Screening is advocated as a cost-effectivealternative to identify children in need of further vision care, although it is now believed that preschool screenings may miss one- third of students with vision problems

36. Screenings vs Complete Exam • When screenings are performed, fewer than 50% of children identified as needing further professional eye and vision care ever receive that care • Of those that do the average time between the screening and the exam is 18 months!

37. Screenings vs Complete Eye Exams • Limited process • Cannot be used to diagnose but rather indicate a potential need • No set standards nationally • Unreliable for children under the age of four

38. Screenings vs Exams • A vision screening can give a parent a false sense of security • When a screening reports that a child is seeing well, parents often assume that no further exam is required and fail to EVER take their child for a comprehensive eye exam

39. The Canadian Association of Optometrists recommends that: “All children receive a comprehensive eye and vision examination prior to entering school.”   Early diagnosis and treatment ensures that children reach their full visual potential in a world that is increasingly vision demanding. Together we can make a difference!