To want my daughters eyes tested before she starts school?

[CheeseAndBeans]

DD2 is 4 and is due to start reception in Sept. as per guidelines I tried to book her an eye test over the next few weeks in preparation. We are a family of glassses wearers so thought it best. I did the same with DD1, now 6, and all was good. She had a test at a high street chain and they used pictures etc rather than letters at that age.
I called last week to book and now issue with 6 year old but was refused 4 year old as she couldn't yet read. I asked what has changed as wasn't an issue a couple of years ago and was shut down.
I emailed and asked for their policy on testing kids eyes and was directed back to the store and they said the same thing. Just seems strange to me as NHS guidelines and their own website say to get kids eyes tested prior to starting school, and coupled with the fact my eldest had hers done I'm confused!
Does anyone work at an opticians and is able to enlighten me? Or recommend a chain that does it? We don't have any other opticians in our town so will travel if needed. I guess it's not the be all and end all but I wanted her tested. Thanks!

I have a lazy eye, stigmatism and a squint. I wore glasses from 2 and had a patch to correct my lazy eye. It’s virtually undetectable now. I’ve been told that whoever spotted it when I was so young saved the vision in my bad eye and also saved me from a life of a very obvious lazy eye which isn’t a desirable trait. I also haven’t needed to have an correctional ops. So deffo not too young!

It does sound like it varies by branch/area. I wanted DD checked before she started school because of my family history of very strong prescriptions and they agreed with me. She's got off lightly so far and just got her first glasses aged 6 and they've asked me to bring her back in 3 months due to the rapid change since her last test. Is there another town you could get to easily? I'd try that if possible.

Sorry, should have said that was Specsavers.

I had my daughter's eyes tested at Specsavers last year when she was 2.5years, as she seemed to have a squint. They tested her with pictures and the guy was brilliant. He then referred her to the hospital and we had full tests there. I booked it on their website, is their still the option to do this? You could try other branches if the nearest one to you won't help. Otherwise they did say health visitor or GP to get a hospital referral is the normal route for young children so like other people have said phoning your GP might be quicker, at the moment you might not need to go in they may do the referral over the phone.

I took my ds for a sight test the summer before he started school, he definitely didn't know his letters yet. They used pictures.
I only took him as I was getting my other older kids eyes tested, I had no concerns about his eye sight.

The optom picked up that he had an extremely lazy eye and he started on glasses immediately, with a referral to orthoptics for patching, which luckily came through very quickly.

Maybe you're struggling for an appointment now because they're trying to catch up the lockdown back log.

I would suggest doing some basic home testing like covering one eye and asking if it's blurry - ds' vision in his bad eye is ridiculously bad but we never realised because we never got him to try using just that one eye.

Then if you have any specific concerns an optician should be happy to do a test.

IMe it is usual for sight to be tested in reception, but this definitely did not happen in my area this year, presumably due to Covid, presumably it should happen next year, but there will obviously have to catch up an entire year and will presumably have Covid related limitations.

The school screening test age 4-5 is for a lazy eye and is done at that age as it is accurate and the condition it detects (Amblyopia) is very treatable at that age. However if there is concerns at a younger age your health visitor or GP should refer you to see an ORTHOPTIST these professionals are specialist in assessing for squint and vision problems in young children and babies. They can give you a good indication of whether there is an eye problem that may or may not need glasses to correct it and also the risk of anything developing as the child gets older.

OP i had this problem.
I knew my ds had eye problems at 3.
I tried to book an eye test in so many stores (just last year)- they wouldnt test under 5.
I took him to the doctors to be reffered to the eye clinic the doctor said it was an optician matter.
The nursery randomly did an eye test before he started school and he had nearly no eye sight in one eye and reducded eye sight in the other.
I was asked by the nursery lady why didnt i get them checked earlier if i knew there was a problem

@recededpronunciation

Find a good independent optician. Vision screening in school missed the problems with my daughters eyesight fro three years in a row until it became so severe that one eye was permanently wandering to the side. With hindsight, and looking at old photographs, the issue had been there for years.

Vision screening at school is for amblyopia, it didn’t miss your daughter’s eyesight problem as it is not testing for squint and other vision problems , amblyopia is the commonest vision problem in children and that is why the government recommend it is screened for. Some previous screening programmes did test for squint and other things but these were stopped.

Rodders glad someone on this thread knows what they are talking about - the amount of inaccuracy spouted here by some with complete confidence is frightening !

Another issue is that Cyclopentolate 0.5 and 1% drops are in short supply due to a manufacturing problem. This is an industry wide issue affecting many opticians.

These eye drops are used to relax the focusing muscles in childrens eyes so the optometrist can get a fairly accurate idea of the childs refractive status (their prescription) without any input from the child so the drops are fairly invaluable when testing pre school children.

You can test a child without these drops but it becomes much more difficult and somewhat less accurate. There are other drugs that can be used eg atropine, but they aren't available to high street opticians.

The college of optometrists have advised delaying cycloplegic sight tests if there are no risk factors for the child. This may be the case with the practices you have called.

My DC both had eyes tests before they were a year old and every year since. They were not reading prodigies! A good optician can get an accurate eye test from very young children whether they can read or not. I’d keep shopping around if I were you OP.

Even if you get one, keep doing annual checks. I only realised my 6/7 yr old was very short sighted when I pointed out a sign to him & he couldn’t read it . He had had a school check at 4/5 and that was fine. So I’d say stay vigilant. I didn’t get glasses myself until secondary school where classrooms were larger & I realised I couldn’t see a thing on the board.