Failed school eye test

[Morellocherries]

My daughter is in foundation and I received a text the other day to say that she failed the school eye screening test and has been referred for an appointment which will be at our local hospital. I managed to access the results of the school test through the parent portal which was 0.1 in the left eye and 0.7 in the right. This morning I sat down with my daughter and asked her to read letters from a book with one eye at a time and she was definitely saying that it is blurry on the right at a distance which I was easily able to read.

Obviously I am now a bit worried and feeling like a terrible mother that I had no idea that there was anything wrong!

I’m not really sure what I’m asking, sorry - I suppose I’m just hoping for some words of reassurance or advice while we wait for an appointment. Im not sure exactly what these results mean or how bad they are. Anyone??

Why can’t she just go to an optician ?

You can book an appointment at a high street optician and request an eye test. If she needs glasses then you'll be able to order some then.

dont Go to an opticians. She needs to be seen by an ophthalmologist- eye doctor- at a hospital.

My 4 year old failed his school vision test & subsequently had a hospital opthalmology appointment. It turns out that he is really, really long sighted & needs glasses. We had no idea he had such bad vision.
Don't beat yourself up, we had the same with my 6 year old. Both my children now wear glasses full-time.

It was a school screening (not in UK) that picked up DS1 eyesight. The look of wonderful on his face when he walked out of the opticians with glasses on for the first time still sticks in my head.

There is a reason they do school screenings - and it's because it's really hard to pick up.
Follow the procedure, see if glasses are needed, and go from there.

My dd was picked up by the screening test in Reception. That is what it is there for. No reason to feel bad - our bodies are clever. Her brain is just used to reading like that.
The reason they go to a specialist clinic is they put drops in to get a 'better look' at your dc's eyes. It dilates the pupils. My dd quite like it ...we did a bit of "What big eyes you have" from Little Red Riding Hood and I showed her them, in a mirror.

Anyway, she had some glasses and it helped her eyesight.
She rarely wears them as an adult (and didn't after she was about 8 or 9). She has a pair now if she is reading or looking at a screen all day and is a bit tired, but the optician has been saying she is borderline for needing / not needing them for years.

Thanks everyone. My first thought was also to take her to an optician and I have made an appointment (although earliest I could get was in a couple of weeks time). Obviously I still plan to take her to the hospital appointment but I have no idea how long the waiting list might be. I might keep the optician appointment and then if I still haven’t heard from the hospital by then, I can take her and see what they say.

This is why they screen. Kids won't tell you they can't see properly as they don't know any different

This happened with my Son (who is 30 now). After his eye test in Reception, he was referred to Eye specialist at hospital, he had a condition where he had different shaped something in eyes, therefore eye sight wasn’t great. He needed glasses for about 3 years, when the eyes righted themselves. Fortunately the Doctor at our opticians was the actual consultant at the hospital who worked there one day a week. He had yearly check ups at Eye clinic. He coped really well with glasses and we got him 2 pairs.

I still vividly remember getting glasses when I was that age, I had absolutely no idea that what I was seeing was wrong because it's what I always saw. When I got my glasses it was amazing, everything was so crisp and sharp, no blurred blobs or spiky lights.

Opthamology appt could take a while so I would go to the optician while you wait, just let them know that you're waiting on a date from a school referral to prevent them initiating another referral.

My son also failed his when he was in reception and was referred to the hospital eye unit which we attended 3 times before he was discharged to our local optician. His left eye is still lazy and he has been wearing glasses since then and we see the optician every year.

We had exactly the same, I felt awful but there was really no sign of any problem. In DS case his good eye was doing such a great job of making up for the lazy eye no one noticed! He wears glasses now, had patching for a while which made a slight improvement but not massive. Can’t imagine him without his glasses now

High street opticians aren't allowed to test children when they have been referred to the hospital, I had exactly the same and went to a private hospital to see their optician sooner than the nhs.... my daughter was able to stay on the nhs waiting list so saw them for a check up when her appointment came through.

OP to calm you down due to my eyesight and other family members our HV got the GP to refer my DD to the eye department of the local hospital after her 2 year old health check. (This happens after she was 2 years old.)

She got the first appointment at about 2 years 8 months old and it was found that one eye was stronger than the other.

After 14 months of wearing glasses including her breaking and losing them, so actually about a year, both eyes are balanced.

Don't feel bad. That's why they screen them.

My friend had terrible vision and was so surprised to find out he needed glasses. He just thought the world was blurry for a surprisingly long time.

Another here - turns out dd had damage from conjunctivitis which is quite rare but had scared her cornea. I felt really shit as I felt we didn't push enough at the gp when it kept reoccurring and we had no idea until the screening.

Anyway, she had quite a few hospital appointments, patch therapy and still has glasses although never wears them. She's a teen now and other than the bad eye being a touch fuzzy, she forgets about it totally. She will never be a fighter pilot but thats a relief tbh

I had no idea they did eye test screening at school. Is that normal? It wasn’t until my DD was at university, after years of headaches, outpatient appointments at neurology clinics, optician appointments, medications with strong drugs, none of which made a difference, that it was solved with prism lenses in glasses. It was only in her late teens that she described what she saw -that things were always moving, from lampposts on the street to words on the page, did we as parents come to the solution. She thought what she saw was normal.

@Outfor150:yep been going on for decades.

I found out at the school screening that DD2 is blind in one eye and has extremely poor vision in the other. I genuinely had no idea as she wasn’t complaining of any issues, squinting or sitting too close to the tv.

Shes 22 now and apart from having to have yearly eye tests so she can keep her driving licence she doesn’t have any problems.

Hi, my daughters eyesight failure was also picked up on a school test. I too felt terrible I hadn't noticed. She couldn't even see the biggest letter out of her right eye. In hindsight she did use to walk into things on her right side but we just thought she was clumsy. They refer you to the hospital as they are better equipped for children. They use different tests than the opticians. They use pictures and other stuff. I'm assuming if it's been picked up by school she's still young. The hospital are brilliant with them.

Thank you so much to everyone who has taken time to reply. Your stories have reassured me over not noticing anything was wrong. I think, as some others have said, that her other eye is good enough to compensate for the bad one and she won’t have known any different.
Hopefully they won’t keep us waiting too long for an appointment as I’m not too good at being patient when I know there is a problem.
As she is only 5, fingers crossed it will be possible for treatment to correct things whilst she is young. We are lucky it has been picked up now as it never occurred to me to take her to the opticians before.

I had no idea they did eye test screening at school. Is that normal?

I can only speak for England, but yes, decades.
They also used to do dental checks for everyone, and height and weight tests, reflexes, nit checks, etc. I doubt if the service is a good now as it once was though, so I am pleased to hear at least the eye sight checks are still happening.

Def take her to the opticians. Keep the hospital appointment. And don't beat yourself up about it.

My Mum was told by my sister's teachers that they thought she might have a problem. So my Mum thought she 'may as well' take me along to the opticians at the same time.

Thanks 80's parenting...

Turns out my eyesight was loads worse than my sister's (I was 10 at the time). My God, when I got my first pair of glasses, it was amazing!!!

But it just didn't occur to me at the time that I couldn't see properly, because as others have said, if it's what you're used to, it's what you're used to!

I remember Mum then asking me if I could see the blackboard at school (this is how long ago it was). I said no, I just used to copy everything off my mate's written work who I was sat next to...

Hopefully she is just short-sighted and needs a pair of specs. All will be OK.

Please let the hospital know that you have been to the opticians. If you get a good optician who tests with drops they may not need that test repeated at the hospital and the hospital can use a valuable slot for another child. Orthoptics is the name of the specialist AHP service that assesses childrens vision , detects squints and treats lazy eyes. They often work closely with opticians (either in the hospital or with local branch's) and your opticians should refer if treatment other than just glasses is needed.

Don't feel bad

I said to my dad when I was little that a bus was coming
Dad noticed it was a postbox and not a bus
I needed glasses