25% Of school children suffers vision problems that may affect their academic performance.

– the majority of parents unknown to almost 30% of cases of school failure is due to impaired ”, asserts Juan Carlos Martínez Moral, President of the General Council of schools of Ópticos-Optometristas

-El Ópticos-Optometristas General Schools Council stresses the importance of children attending the óptico-optometristaat least once a year, to detect possible Visual problems affecting its performance, but are easy solution

Madrid, 2011-September starts the school year and our children have to face several hours of classes daily, read, study, do sports, extracurricular activities, the homework … andthen, perhaps time for fun a while with the console and your computer. There is no doubt that the eyes of our children and adolescents are working at full capacity throughout the day, and however, only one out of four Spanish children in school age is revised vision at least once a year.

School, vision-related failure

In many cases, the poor grades or the lack of interest in the subjects are not as a result of the apathy of students, but some visual defect preventing them to keep up with classes, attend the explanations of the slate, read quickly and understanding and studying comfortably, with the consequent burden for their learning.

According to Juan Carlos Martínez Moral, President of the General Council of schools of Ópticos-Optometristas, the majority of parents unknown to almost 30% of cases of school failure is due to impaired ”.

In fact, estimated that 5-10% of preschool children and 25 per cent of schoolchildren has impaired as hyperopia, myopia, strabismus, etc., myopia to be a problem that is on the rise among students. The President of the Council General of schools of Ópticos-Optometristas, Martínez morals, is concerned and explains: children increasingly spend more time to activities in which a great effort is being made in near vision, such as reading, watching television, working with the computer or play with the console. This is producing an increase in short-sighted school ”.

how we detect impaired in children?

Children rarely complain about vision problems, so sometimes it is difficult to detect them. Why is necessary to carry out Visual reviews and also assess the ability of understanding ”, clarifies Moral Martinez, who remember that is more advisable to go to the óptico-optometrista query at least once a year, and more now at the beginning of the school year ”.

But aside from that necessary annual revision, parents and teachers must be aware of a number of symptoms of schoolchildren, which often point out the existence of Visual problems:

РFrunce frown, gui̱a eyes or turns his head and neck to look from afar or close.

– are you irritated eyes when it writes or readsThey escuecen him and rubbed the eyelids with frequency.

– complain regularly of headaches of head.

– stumbles with ease, the deficiency in the sense of depth.

– turns an eye.

– makes many mistakes to copy words from slate.

– has low understanding of reading for its age.

– have excessive sensitivity to light (photophobia).

– avoids activities requiring close vision, such as reading or doing homework, or vision by far as sport or other activities of leisure.

– usually sit too close to TV or comes very close to the books

If you look at the child of any of these symptoms, it is necessary to attend the consultation of the óptico-optometrista to undergo a complete visual and ocular examination, that the early identification of vision problems can be crucial for a correct treatment.

what is evaluated during review?

In the early years of life, revisions to help rule out certain refractive and pathologies that ultimately may be irreparable. Up to 5 years eye has not matured fully. It is therefore a key step to detect and remedy potential damage. During the review, the óptico-optometrista evaluates various aspects essential to learning:

-vision from near and far.

-visual acuity. It is measured at various distances, so that students can read, work with the computer and distinguish the words written on the Blackboard with effectiveness.

-accommodation. The eyes should be able to focus on an object and change the focus from one point to another, so that attention will book the wax, and vice versa.

-visual alignment and ocular motility. Ideally, the muscles that run each eye to converge to focus on the same subject matter adequately shaping the perception of depth.

-binocular vision. This ability is key to coordinate and align the eyes, precisely so that the brain can merge the images received from each eye in a single image

-eye movement. The child must follow lines on a page properly and efficient to read or copy information quickly and easily a whiteboard or a spreadsheet.