Poor vision can affect children’s ability to learn.

If you are a parent or guardian and suspect there may be visions concerns with a child in your care, please make sure you seek professional help immediately.

Children with visual impairments often experience academic difficulties. They may struggle with reading, writing, math, spelling, and comprehension. These challenges can make it difficult for students to succeed academically and socially.

Many factors contribute to poor vision, including refractive errors such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, etc.

Some conditions, such as amblyopia, occur during childhood, while others, such as congenital anomalies, develop later in life.

There are multiple ways poor vision might affect learning. Seven are listed below:

1. Students with poor vision may fall behind in school.
If children are unable to read well enough to keep up with classmates, they inevitably find it harder to keep up with their peers.

2. Poor vision can cause poor performance on standardized tests, especially those involving fine motor skills like handwriting.

This can impact their overall test scores.

3. Poor vision can affect attention span and concentration in children.

When students cannot see clearly, they may find themselves distracted easily.

4. Poor vision can negatively affect memory.

For example, if a student struggles to remember what he or she learned in class, it could affect his or her grade.

5. When you aggregate and compound the issues above (1-4), the social impact on children becomes apparent.

Each of the items above is devastating o young children, but when multiple of these factors are present, the impact on the child’s wellbeing is compounded.

6. Poor vision might contribute to issues with expressing themselves well.

With each level of educational attainment, children face increasing demands on their vision, from board work and computer usage to an ever-increasing reliance on reading skills. Should poor vision hinder learning, the classroom can become a stressful and frustrating place. Often, children can’t express why.

7. Research indicates there is a correlation between lack of professional vision care and juvenile delinquency.

Results indicate a relatively high incidence of vision problems most of which dealt with poor binocularity.

Healthy vision is critical for every child’s social development, school success, and well-being.

Vision problems can affect a child’s learning, behavior, and even his or her overall health.

Children who have vision problems often don’t receive the early intervention and care they need. They miss out on opportunities to learn about how to read, write, spell, count, do math, and perform other important tasks. And because vision problems are associated with many other developmental delays, they also miss out on important educational benefits.

Early detection and treatment of vision disorders can lead to better outcomes for kids. But it takes a collaborative effort among parents, teachers, pediatricians, optometrists, ophthalmologists, and others to make sure kids get the best possible eye exams and follow up care.