Anybody with any experience of toddler eyetests/vision problems?

[feedthegoat]

My ds was referred to the hospital after failing his 1st routine eye test in May when he was 3.7.

The lady testing gave him a card with letters on and asked him to point out the ones he could see on each line. As he knows some letters he was trying to say the names rather than point and was very hesitant. He then said he couldn't do it. This is standard behaviour for my ds as he gives up on things very quickly if they don't come easily to him. The lady (who was lovely and encouraging) asked if he needed her to come closer and he got all giggly and said yes. His stock anwser then was to giggle coyly and ask her to come closer.

She then advised she would rather have him tested further, particularly as I wear glasses and have done since childhood. I have a lazy eye which is so bad it isn't even treated anymore so I have glasses for my good eye for astigmatism (sp?). Obviously I was happy for this to be investigated but did point out that we've always laughed at how eagle eyed ds is and pointed out my concerns about him worrying he didn't 'know' the letters.

We finally got the referral to hospital yesterday. About 30 mins after drops were put in we were called in. As soon as we walked in I asked 'so you wore glasses and were patched as a child?' I said yes and also said that I was suprised at ds failing given how his sight seems to us and mentioned my concerns about how ds behaved at other test. The reply was 'Children are referred to us because they need glasses'. I admit I was abit at that point as surely the children are very young to be reliably complying at 3?

The consultant spent 5 minutes looking into ds's eyes through a lense then told me he was long sighted and would have trouble viewing things close up and wrote out a prescription for glasses for ds to wear all the time.

I admit that whilst in my personal life I can be quite bolshy I'm not at all like that in situations such as this so I just took the prescription and left. Dh was mightily unimpressed as he felt the consultant should at least have listened to our concerns. I found him very brusque both with me and ds and in those circumstances I just tend to pipe down.

I've spoken today to family and friends and everyone is surprised he has been given glasses as he has never struggled in anyway. I'm also suprised myself and abit confused as to how he failed his test based on distance but is long sighted! I'm having trouble accepting how the child who was able to tell me a had a single speck of glitter on my face on wednesday needs to be in glasses permenantly by saturday.

Any how, I suppose what I really want to know is whether this is what normally happens after I referral? I was very shocked that they didn't actually do anything themselves to test his vision in any way. And also, is it normal for children to seem to have absolutely no problems at all but end up needing glasses anyway?

Just feeling unsure about it all really.I'm not sure whether we just need to accept ds has a problem with his eyes but seemed to be fine before or whether we should ask for him to be looked at again. I just don't like questioning 'authority' as such as I'm sure the consultant knows his stuff.

Hi there, my dd is older, but the situation sounds similar...I have worn glasses/lenses for astigmatism since I was 5. I took dd for an eye test in September- she had never experienced any problems at all, (seemingly the opposite- being able to see legs on creepy crawlies when the creepy crawly turns out to be a blob of muck on a windscreen etc etc) Anyway, the optician said she has "quite severe" astigmatism, and I've also been given the glasses for her to wear most of the time. Optician also said she was long-sighted. Dd is loving her glasses, and thankfully times seem to have moved on from the old "four eyes" comments I had to put up with as a child.
The optician said that she would be called back every 3 mths for a retest for the first few years as prescriptions can change quite quickly with young children.

What happened to you sounds pretty normal.

The consultant can tell your DSs prescription by looking in his eyes with the opthalmascope, it doesnt rely on your DS cooperating or not.

People who have long sight can still have problems with vision at distance. The way it was explained to me is that the eyes, and muscles around them are working so hard all the time to focus that they can work in an uneven way, leading to squints/lazy eye or vision just not being as good as you would expect. It made sense when it was explained to me, not sure if it looks so good written down.

I wear glasses and have a DD who wears glasses - I am short sighted with astigmatism, she is long sighted with astigmatism. My understanding of astigmatism (which is not very much btw!! but see here) is that they can tell from the shape of the eye using the light whether or not you have it. So although a reading eye test is one way of detecting problems it is the looking inside the eye that is the proof. The drops are to open up the pupil so they can have a good look inside.

DD never had problems seeing things far away or close up - but when she started trying to read she did have problems as she said the letters were "floaty". This seems to have been corrected by the glasses.

Thanks to you all for reading my lengthy ramble and replying quickly!

I guess I was expecting them to actually test his eyes in some way (probably the memory of all the visits and tests I had to do as a child!)

The good news I suppose is that there was no mention of either of my problems, he's just long sighted. I've got memories of constantly tripping over chairs and standing yelling 'muuuum, help' all the time when I was patched as a child as I couldn't see a damn thing out of my lazy eye.

I had a squint as a child and now it is cosmetically correct I can hardly see out of that eye. As a result of this DD was referred to outpatients for basic eye tests at 1 year, with follow up at age 2. That set of tests suggested that there might be a problem so we went back shortly after for "glasses tests". This was done after drops, and all done by looking into the eye - DD wasn't yet properly vocal so could not respond anyway. So I wouldn't worry about DS's actions and their influence. (We are going back for more checks in a couple if weeks as last ones were borderline as to whether she needs specs or not so nothing prescribed yet)

both my boys wear/wore glasses. they had visible squints tho and so i self refered DS1 when he was 2.5yrs and DS2 at 18months.
Their prescriptions were given after drops but they see the orthopist regularly to test their vision. we have an excellent orthoptist who is very good at getting them to cooperate and still refers back to pictures instead of letters when DS2(4yrs) is having a bad day.
They see orthoptist every 3 months and they measure the squint and advise on patching etc. and see the consultant opthamologist twice a year and their prescription checked annually.