Eye tests for children - do you get them done?

[mears]

Posted a comment on the 'double vision thread' about the need for children to have yearly eye tests from an early age.
My optician is concerned that parents are not encouraged to look after their childrens eye health in the same way that dental health is promoted.
There are many conditions that can be detected and corrected early with regular eye tests by opticians that are free.
This does not mean the trivial pre school eye test.
My children were pretty gronw up before I started taking them regularly.

Are new mums and dads encouraged to have their tooledrs' eyes tested. Have you even thought about it? They do not need to be able to read.

ofcourse I meant toddlers

My optician is really good with the kids and lets them point to pictures that look the same if they aren't old enough to read. My eldest needed glasses the first time he went (aged 6) and the middle one is checked regularly because he has a slightly lazy eye which doesn't need treatment at the moment. Have it done, its free for children and get your own checked whilst you are there all you mumsnetters!

My optometrist checked my son while I was there for a checkup (I wear glasses and have done since age 7). He used pictures, like silhouettes of a car, birthday cake, horse etc. Ds is only 3 but he did so well, and still named them correctly as they got quite tiny. So they can be accurately tested very young.

There are other problems an optometrist can detect (that a school or clinic might not) and these include tracking and shifting focus. My dd has a few problems with motor planning and related sensory areas, and had a developmental optometrist assessment at age 5, which picked up a cross-dominance with her hand-eye coordination, tracking difficulty and a problem in crossing her midline. All related to her fine and gross motor skill delay, and these things can also affect reading and writing if not picked up.

So have to agree with mears, it is very important, just as much as a dentist's checkup (if not more so!)

I was worried about ds's eyes at his 8 week check, and was referred by GP at hospital for tests. I'm glad I spoke up, even though when parents ask me curiously how such a small baby has got glasses and how I knew. Loads of parents incidently scoffed at my concerns, saying all babies are cross-eyed. But my gut feeling was right, wasn't it?

I see lots of parents with kids with bad squints and I really wonder why they don't get them checked out. And especially if it's free.

Definitely have it done. My daughter was diagnosed with a lazy eye, astigmatism in one eye and pretty strong long-sightedness. Dread to think how she would have got on at school if it hadn't been picked up before she started. In fact, the squint only became apparent once she started to wear glasses, since the eye was trying to adjust. I would never have picked it up by just looking at her.