{"id":20075,"date":"2021-12-05T21:20:53","date_gmt":"2021-12-05T21:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/?page_id=20075"},"modified":"2021-12-05T21:20:53","modified_gmt":"2021-12-05T21:20:53","slug":"vision-screenings-top-4-faqs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/vision-for-school\/vision-screenings-top-4-faqs\/","title":{"rendered":"Vision Screenings: Top 4 FAQs"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>If my child has passed a vision screening, does that mean they have \u2018perfect sight\u2019?\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b><i>Unfortunately, no.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a common misconception that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/vision-for-school\/are-school-vision-screenings-effective\/do-vision-screenings-assess-functional-vision\/\">vision screenings at school<\/a> are the same as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/guide-to-childrens-eye-exams\/\">regular eye comprehensive eye exams<\/a> your child receives with their eye doctor.<\/p>\n<p>Vision screenings are not a replacement for comprehensive eye exams, which should be done on a regular basis to ensure your child has the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/guide-vision-and-learning-difficulties\/the-17-key-visual-skills\/\">visual skills<\/a> they need for learning.<\/p>\n<p><em>Here are our top 4 most frequently asked questions about school vision screenings and comprehensive eye exams.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2><b>Q1: Are vision screenings and comprehensive eye exams the same thing?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>No.<\/p>\n<p>School vision screenings are much less thorough than comprehensive eye exams performed at your local school or health clinic.<\/p>\n<p>School vision screenings assess whether a child is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/guide-to-pediatric-eye-conditions\/what-is-myopia\/\">myopic<\/a> (nearsighted) and may detect an obvious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/a-guide-to-eye-turns\/strabismus-crossed-eyes\/\">eye turn<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/vision-therapy-for-lazy-eye\/amblyopia-lazy-eye\/\">lazy eye<\/a>. Most screenings often lack the equipment to carry out anything but the most basic eye tests.<\/p>\n<p><b>Comprehensive eye exams, on the other hand, are performed in a dedicated testing space, by trained eye care professionals, using up-to-date testing equipment and procedures<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>School vision screenings are only able to catch the most obvious eye conditions, and will not be able to diagnose harder-to-detect conditions involving eye health or essential visual skills.<\/p>\n<p>Your eye doctor is equipped and trained to detect all of these issues during a comprehensive eye exam.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Q2: What conditions can a routine school vision screening detect?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Routine school vision screenings can detect severe myopia and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/vision-therapy-for-lazy-eye\/amblyopia-lazy-eye\/\">amblyopia<\/a>, and tell if your child has vision that is less than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/vision-therapy-for-children\/the-myth-of-20-20\/\">20\/20<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>However, vision screenings are not equipped to diagnose underlying conditions that may be causing these and other vision problems.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Visual skills essential for success in school, including eye teaming, tracking and accommodation cannot be evaluated.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/guide-to-pediatric-eye-conditions\/\">Conditions<\/a> such as pediatric glaucoma and other childhood eye diseases may remain undetected. For complex eye conditions, a comprehensive eye exam is necessary.<\/p>\n<p><b>SEE RELATED: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/vision-for-school\/healthy-eyes-for-life-10-facts-for-school-children\/\">Healthy Eyes for Life: 10 Facts for School Children<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Even if your child has had a vision screening, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/\">schedule a comprehensive eye exam with an eye doctor near you.<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"practice-search-widget\">\n\t\t<h3>Find an eye doctor near you<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t<form class=\"practice-search-form practice-search-form-widget\" action=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/results\/\" method=\"get\">\n\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"distance\" value=\"100\" class=\"practice-search-distance\">\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"page\" class=\"practice-search-page\">\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"address_latitude\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"address_longitude\">\n\n\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"address\" class=\"practice-search-address\" placeholder=\"City, Surburb or Address\" value=\"\">\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"distance\" value=\"100\" class=\"practice-search-distance\">\n\n\t\t\n\n\t\t<button type=\"submit\" class=\"practice-search-button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M10.6796 0.130005C9.15708 0.130059 7.66615 0.5646 6.38198 1.38258C5.09781 2.20057 4.07373 3.36803 3.43004 4.74783C2.78634 6.12763 2.54976 7.66246 2.74808 9.17205C2.9464 10.6816 3.57139 12.1033 4.54964 13.27L0.729639 17.08C0.6364 17.1732 0.562439 17.2839 0.511979 17.4058C0.461519 17.5276 0.435547 17.6581 0.435547 17.79C0.435547 17.9219 0.461519 18.0524 0.511979 18.1743C0.562439 18.2961 0.6364 18.4068 0.729639 18.5C0.917942 18.6883 1.17334 18.7941 1.43964 18.7941C1.5715 18.7941 1.70207 18.7681 1.82389 18.7177C1.94571 18.6672 2.0564 18.5932 2.14964 18.5L5.99964 14.62C7.35406 15.6038 8.98566 16.1324 10.6596 16.13C12.7814 16.13 14.8162 15.2871 16.3165 13.7869C17.8168 12.2866 18.6596 10.2517 18.6596 8.13C18.6596 6.00827 17.8168 3.97344 16.3165 2.47315C14.8162 0.97286 12.7814 0.130005 10.6596 0.130005H10.6796ZM10.6796 14.13C9.49295 14.13 8.33291 13.7781 7.34622 13.1188C6.35952 12.4595 5.59049 11.5225 5.13636 10.4261C4.68224 9.32975 4.56342 8.12335 4.79493 6.95946C5.02644 5.79558 5.59788 4.72648 6.437 3.88736C7.27611 3.04825 8.34521 2.4768 9.5091 2.24529C10.673 2.01378 11.8794 2.1326 12.9757 2.58673C14.0721 3.04085 15.0092 3.80989 15.6685 4.79658C16.3277 5.78328 16.6796 6.94332 16.6796 8.13C16.6796 9.7213 16.0475 11.2474 14.9223 12.3726C13.7971 13.4979 12.2709 14.13 10.6796 14.13Z\" fill=\"#fff\"\/><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t<button type=\"button\" class=\"practice-search-use-my-location\">\n\t\t\tSearch near me\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\n\t<\/form>\n\n\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<h2><b>Q3: What\u2019s wrong with relying on school vision screenings for my child\u2019s eye and vision health?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>There are a number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/vision-for-school\/are-school-vision-screenings-effective\/\">issues with school vision screenings<\/a> that make them unreliable. These issues include:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b> The testing environment and equipment may not guarantee accurate results:\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Vision screenings usually take place in classrooms or school nurse offices. These rooms often do not have good lighting for testing.<\/p>\n<p>Because the equipment is only used periodically, it often has not been maintained properly, and testing may be done either too close or too far away from the testing chart.<\/p>\n<p>All of these factors can severely harm the accuracy of results.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><b> Those performing the tests may not be adequately trained:<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>For all their good intentions, the people doing these screenings are not trained eye care professionals, whose job it is to maintain your child\u2019s eye health.<\/p>\n<p>Volunteers from the community and personnel from the school, such as teachers, often fill these roles. They may not have the expertise to properly conduct the tests, or interpret the results accurately.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><b> Testing is limited to 20\/20 vision and only the easiest and most obvious vision issues:<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>These tests rely almost solely on the Snellen vision chart, which was invented 150 years ago, and only assesses a person\u2019s distance vision.<\/p>\n<p><b>Assessments based on the vision chart do not test for the near vision acuity that a child needs for reading or writing in school.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Focusing, eye tracking, eye teaming, and other visual skills that are essential for many school activities also cannot be assessed with a Snellen chart. Nor can a child\u2019s overall ocular health.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Q4: Does my child need a comprehensive eye exam if they passed their school vision screening?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Yes.<i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>The National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA) reports that as many as 10 million children in the United States suffer from vision problems that can impact their ability to learn in school.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Because school vision screenings are so limited, they may miss the vast majority of these conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Even if your child does well on their school vision screening, it\u2019s essential to bring them to your local eye care clinic for a comprehensive eye exam on a regular basis.<\/p>\n<p><b>Only a thorough exam can assess most vision problems, as well as a child\u2019s eye health and visual skills.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Eye care professionals recommend that children begin having <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/guide-to-childrens-eye-exams\/\">comprehensive eye exams <\/a>as early as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/guide-to-visual-development\/your-babys-vision-development\/\">6 months old<\/a>. This ensures early detection and treatment of vision issues that might otherwise cause problems with learning when they start school.<\/p>\n<p>Once your child is of school age, they should have exams once a year.<\/p>\n<p><b>LEARN MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/vision-for-school\/\">Vision for School<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>If you have any concerns about your child\u2019s vision or academic performance, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/\">schedule an eye exam with an eye doctor near you<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i>Vision screenings are not a replacement for comprehensive eye exams.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Eye exams with an eye doctor should be done on a regular basis to ensure your child has the clear vision and visual skills they need for learning.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If my child has passed a vision screening, does that mean they have \u2018perfect sight\u2019?\u00a0 Unfortunately, no. It\u2019s a common misconception that vision screenings at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1206,"featured_media":20076,"parent":1385,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-article.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20075","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vision Screenings: Top 4 FAQs - Optometrists.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/vision-for-school\/vision-screenings-top-4-faqs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vision Screenings: Top 4 FAQs - Optometrists.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If my child has passed a vision screening, does that mean they have \u2018perfect sight\u2019?\u00a0 Unfortunately, no. 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