30 Dec What to Expect from Preschool Eye Exams

While pediatricians perform a vision check-up on your child, it is important to see an eye doctor for a comprehensive eye examination. Eye doctors use certain clinical tools and procedures to determine your child’s visual abilities. They might also prescribe an optical lens if necessary. Many learning skills depend on the strength of visual abilities like accurate eye movement, binocular vision, the ability to see objects that are far and more. That is why children need to have a yearly eye exam before they start school.

At 2 to 5 years (preschool age), children learn to draw, color, cut papers, stack blocks, etc. A thorough examination of the following visual skills is needed for the healthy development of children and to prepare them for learning. 

Stereopsis (3D vision)

Random dot stereopsis tests your kid’s 3D vision. It measures how well the eyes work together. The examination involves a chart with unique patterns of dots and 3D glasses.

Visual Acuity

Doctors use LEA symbols to examine visual acuity in children unable to identify the letters on an eye chart. They ask children to identify symbols such as a house, triangle, circle, and more. The test allows the doctor to determine how well your child sees close and distant objects. If diagnosed with nearsightedness or farsightedness, the doctor prescribes progressive lenses.

Oscular Health

The eye doctors also conduct an ocular examination to check for ocular problems such as glaucoma, tumors, or infantile cataracts.

Color Vision

Color vision is tested using pictures with certain colors to determine whether the child can differentiate colors. Most eye doctors use the Ishihara Test.

The doctors also perform a visual skills assessment to check for the presence of:

• Convergence insufficiency
• Lazy eye/amblyopia
• Focusing difficulties
• Crossed or misaligned eyes/strabismus
• Poor depth perception

At PRIVO, we offer customized optical lenses, progressive lenses, and other types of glasses for adults and children.