Referral to the Eye clinic (preschool eye test)

[Dinosauratemydaffodils]

So ds "failed" his eye test today, he's 3 (turns 4 in February and could start school in August but is being deferred).

I wasn't there and he says that he was asked to look at some numbers and pictures plus she looked in his eyes.

The "eye test" result sheet has nothing in the "reasons for referral" field and the only comment on the covering letter is "slight reduced vision in both eyes".

Ds has speech issues (gets therapy) and doesn't know all his numbers. He has shown no sign of vision issues in the past however dh wears glasses and has done so since he was fairly young. He says that the ones he got wrong were because he couldn't say the word rather than not being able to see it and that he didn't tell her that because he was too scared. Please tell me that he can't possibly have been referred on those grounds and that his speech/lack of knowledge would have been taken into account.

If that is the case it will easily be spotted at the hospital, they will know when they see your DS if he actually has vision problems or not. They put drops in the eye to dilate the pupil and the consultant can tell even without the kids knowing numbers/letters if they are short or long sighted or not. They did explain it to me once how -something to do with how the light they shine in the eye looks on the lens or how the pupil reacts? Can’t remember, sorry it was over a decade ago.
I would assume the person testing would take into account not all youngsters can remember all the correct words though as they also show pictures and ask them to point to specific bits in the pictures to see if they can see everything clearly.
If it turns out he can see fine he will be discharged.

They put drops in the eye to dilate the pupil

That's my concern. He's never had a good hospital experience and I suspect will find that hugely traumatic. We are going to have drag him as it is and will have to hold him down for the drops. It's one thing if he does have a problem but it's another if the test didn't take his issues (and his personality) into account.

Just take him along for a proper eye examination with an optician and go with him. They're free for under 16s.

In my Trust, you probably wouldn't be given drops at a first appointment. Usually you'd see an orthoptist to replicate the original test.

JohnLapsleyParlabane

That I would be fine with however the covering letter says drops.

OP that's why its better to go and have a proper eye test first.

To explain more, in my LA screening would refer to a local Optometrist first before a referral to the hospital.

Have you called the clinic? We take DD every 4 months and all he letters sat she will have drops but she actually only has them once a year, they just don't edit the standard letter. It's possible your clinic is the same.

Have you called the clinic?

No, I have 2 scraps of paper essentially with the details I described previously and the information that I will get a letter asking me to make an appointment within the next 12 weeks. There is no contact number nor does it say which hospital the referral is going to.

What it does say however is "Your child will have eye drops put in for this appointment to dilate both pupils to allow the doctor to perform a full examination". I will obviously check that's the case when I get the letter and phone up to arrange the appointment.

I suppose I'm just fed up. I got fobbed off so much over his speech by everyone when I first started raising it, multiple health visitors/child minder/family/friends/nursery that I started to question myself. Everyone just said he'd grow out of it but he hasn't and now he's a very smart little boy who can't be understood half the time and who shuts down if he thinks people misunderstand him.

I had to fight for a referral to speech therapy, I've had to fight for help with speech therapy and now this is the second appointment (we are off to audiology next week) which may or may not be based mostly on that rather than the relative body part.

With the added fun that he starts screaming/fighting if we approach a hospital/doctors for him. He's fine if it's for anyone else, he's watched me get all my ante-natal check ups with his sister, he's watched her get all her checks. He's fine with the dentist and the hairdressers, he just hates doctors. We've tried explaining, we've tried showing him books/tv describing what will happen, we've tried offering rewards and nothing works.

Opticians can give drops though (they did for one of mine) so I would get an appointment with your local optician and be there when they are done and take it from there

To be fair to the referral its like a chicken and the egg - she doesnt know if the speech causes it or not hence why they have been referred

I'm sure the clinic will try a different way of doing the test first - the screening people will just have one way. My mum has dementia and doesn't have the words for things (massive damage to her expressive and receptive speech) and the opticians do a test where she just points to the matching picture to what is on the chart and it seems to work well