How old for optician?

[SlightlyDoolally]

Does anyone know at what age you can take a child to an optician to have their eyes checked? DS (3 next month) has started blinking a lot when he's tired and I think I should maybe get him checked out but not sure whether opticians will examine toddlers.

Anyone know if 3 is too young and, if so, where else I might take him?

I would phone your local opticians, or talk to your HV and ask for advise on one which will do toddlers.

I asked my health visitor and she referred ds1 to the optomitry (?sp) clinic in the local eye clinic. He was 3.6 at the time. Think I only waited a few weeks for the appt. Not sure shop opticians do kids assessments,

Thanks Sirzy, I'll do that. :)

X-posts, Ploom! I thought the normal opticians might not be the right route at this age. I'll ring HV tomorrow and see what to do. Thanks

I took my ds at 3 1/2 to my optician when I went to have mine tested, so they definitely can

A problem was detected (lazy eye) and the optician referred us on to the hospital where he saw another optician on a regular basis for patching etc.

Yes I would check. DD2 has worn glasses since she was 7 and the high street optician is fine, but a pre school child be different.
I know their are charts with E's different ways round and the child turns a shape to match, we did them in infants. Whether a 3y would follow I don't know.

DD got one pair of glasses, which I suspect, were never really strong enough because she just answered yes to every question.
This time she was obviously much more sensible because her new glasses get worn rather than lost. They obviously make the world clearer.

it depends on the optician - the one dd goes to tests children from the age of 3

When i worked for specsavers 3 was the recommended age to start testing many places will use pictures boat flower etc so they just say what they see, if a problem is picked up they are usually referred to the hospital.

my optician tested DD2 and DD3 from about three, but he knows the family history (me, stupidly short sighted), and was happy that I knew it was an educated guess that they were (at the time) OK.

It helps if they're a little bit older and can recognise letters, as well as being able to follow instructions ("look over there", "tell me what you can see") and not be phased by the darkness and equipment.

Dd1 has worn glasses since 4.5. When she was first tested, she knew most of her letters but not securely, so the optician used a pictures instead. Opticians also can tell a lot about vision by looking at the eye during the test.

Three year old children vary a lot, and there is a big difference between being just three and nearly four, in terms of following instructions. I would take your child for an eye test, and if the optician feels he needs a specialised test, then a referral on to the GP will be made.

Thanks everyone for your advice. HVs not answering phones this morning, so rang our local optician and booked DS an appointment for Monday. Sounds like they use pictures, like Tikketyboo and Madsometimes mentioned, so it should be fine (he is not yet 3 so doesn't recognise many letters yet).

Thanks for all your advice.

Depends on your optician. Most Specsavers etc Wont use just letters for very small children but instead have pics of fish, boats, animals etc they can name instead. My son saw optician aged 3 as both hubby and I have awful vision. Referred to Orthoptist at 4 for patching due to lazy eye - perfect again just has glasses for reading on very weak prescription. If you have any doubts get them checked!

Not read all the posts.... sorry too lazy!

Orthoptists are the gold standard for testing young children and we are based in hospital/community eye clinics. But most high street optometrist/opticians would be able to carry out an eye test on a 3yo. Good luck at your appointment. If they find any problems your optician can directly refer you onto the orthoptic service

Thanks cheekyginger. I saw your other thread about eye issues and children - you're so kind taking the time to offer professional advice to all us stressed mums!

Am taking DS to the optician on Monday (though typically his blinking has all but stopped since I made the appointment!), so we'll see what they say.

Thanks everyone

I'd be a little cautious about a high street optician test just because my optician (who I would otherwise very much have recommended) tested ds twice and found his eyesight normal. When he got to school he had an early health screening due to behavioural issues and was referred to the community optometrist and then to the regional eye centre. He was very long sighted, and almost certainly had been the year before too. Watching the community optometrist she just had a much better understanding of small children's attention span, which I think was what really made the difference (it wasn't just that she used different pictures).

The first sign my ds had a problem was screwing his eyes up in a strange way. I a sure that there are high street opticians that do good tests for small children, but I'd not stop there if you get a 'normal' test.

Well said nooka....

orthoptists are best! !!

Glad to make you happy My only problem is getting the names of all the professions who look after eyes right - they all sound so similar. Very confusing!

Too many O's

Orthoptist - binocular vision specialists
Optician/optometrist - to names for the same thing
Ophthalmologist - A dr who specialises in eyes

Here is a link for our website for our department. Has quite a lot of useful information on it