How Often Should Children Get Their Eyes Tested?

A pediatrician or private practice doctor's brief examination of the child's eyes and vision screening is not a substitution for an eye test done by an eye doctor. Only optometrists and ophthalmologists have the specialized experience and scientific tools to examine your child's eyes and vision thoroughly.

Children's eye checks are extremely critical to ensure that your child's eyes are stable and that he or she may not have any vision issues that may interfere with their schoolwork or jeopardize their protection. Early eye checks are also necessary because children need the following vision skills for optimal learning:

• Visual acuity is excellent at all distances.
• Eye teaming skills that are both reliable and relaxed
• Face coordination skills that are precise
• Enhance the child's learning abilities

At the age of six months, children should undergo their first thorough eye test. Then, at the age of three and right before joining the first grade — at the age of five or six — they should have their eyes checked.

Choose a day when your child is normally conscious and relaxed when arranging an eye test for him or her.

The specifics of how eye checks are performed vary depending on your child's age, but they also include a case history, vision tests, determining whether eyeglasses are required, eye alignment testing, an eye health assessment, and, if necessary, prescription eyewear. It’s recommended to visit the best opticians in Sri Lanka in order to meet the requirements as mentioned above.

Following your appointment, you will receive a case history questionnaire in the mail. Few optometry offices do have forms that you can download and print at home before your appointment. Alternatively, you will not be given a form until you arrive at the doctor's office.

The case history form will inquire about your child's birth history, including birth weight and full-term status.

Your eye doctor may also inquire as to whether there were any complications during the pregnancy or childbirth. Other questions will focus on the child's medical records, such as prescribed prescriptions and previous or current allergies.

Eye testing for children 

As eye diseases in Sri  Lanka are rising by the age of six months, babies should be able to see as well as adults in terms of concentrating capacity, colour vision, and depth perception.

The following measurements are often used by doctors to determine if your baby's eyes are developing normally:

• Pupil responses tests determine when the pupil of the eye opens and shuts correctly in the presence and absence of light.
• The ability of your baby's eyes to fixate on and track a moving target, such as a flash, is determined by "fixate and follow" research. (By the time they are 3 months old, babies should be able to fixate on an item and follow it.)
• Preferential looking entails using cards with stripes on one hand and blank on the other to draw an infant's attention to the stripes. Without the use of a traditional eye map, visual skills may be measured in this manner.

Eye testing for preschool children

Some parents are shocked to find that many eye examinations do not require preschool-aged children to recognize their letters, even though they are too young or shy to talk.

The following are some examples of traditional eye tests for young children:

• LEA symbols for young children are similar to standard eye tests that use maps of letters, with the exception that special symbols such as an apple, home, rectangle, and circle are used in these tests.
• Retinoscopy is a procedure that includes shining a laser into the back of the eye and observing the image (retina). This examination determines whether your child has a cloudy lens (congenital cataract) or a major refractive defect.
• Random dot stereopsis assessment measures how well the child's eyes fit together as a team using unique patterns of dots and 3-D glasses.

Remember that proper vision testing at a young age is critical to ensuring that your child has the visual skills needed to succeed in education. When a child is unable to read or see a blackboard, he or she will get quickly irritated, which can lead to low academic success.