my 3.5 year old needs glasses

[elliott]

as a result of his pre-school vision check, ds1 has been found to have astymatism and needs glasses. I wondered if anyone else has had this with a pre-schooler, and any advice about what kind of specs to get that will withstand use from a very lively and active child? And what to do if he isn't keen to wear them?
The optician advised he should wear the glasses for around 3 hours a day - does anyone know why he doesn't need to wear them all the time? Is the purpose to help improve his sight or just to correct it? He also suggested it might improve with time - but I'm not sure how likely this is.

Anyway would love to hear from anyone else in the same boat. feeling a little anxious that ds1 is going to start pre-school nursery as the 'ginger kid with specs' but also a bit embarrassed that I feel anxious, since its obviously much better that the problem has been picked up now (three cheers for the NHS)

[elliott]

thanks sparks and peachyclair. I know that with squint the glasses (and eye patch) are to develop visual pathways in the 'lazy' eye, but I didn't know whether the same is true for astigmatism - though I guess logically it may be.
I hope we don't have too many battles with ds1 to wear them. He is generally reasonably compliant (as 3.5 yr olds go!) but I know he is not very impressed with the idea of wearing glasses.

[PeachyClair]

Sparks you explained fine and it makes ense- my excuse for not wearing glasses is that the world I see is my real world- the world everyone else sees (larger, more defined and colourful I suspect) is your world- I think they tie in with what you explained!

Oh and I'm not justifying not wearing my glasses, know I should really

[Sparks]

Elliott, you asked about the purpose of wearing the glasses being to improve his sight or just correct it. My understanding from dd's ophthalmologist is that it is both at that age. When they are little the part of the brain that controls vision is still developing. If they never see a clear image, their brain won't "learn" to interpret a clear image. I don't think I'm explaining it very well, but it's to do with neurological development.

My dd is 6, has had glasses since she was 4 and also an eye patch. When we are having problems getting her to keep the patch on, we use a sticker chart. If she wears the patch and glasses for the required amount of time with no fuss, she gets a sticker. If she gets seven stickers in a row, she gets some sweeties.

[PeachyClair]

Oh, and specsavers do action man specs, which i am told are more resilient and they did last ds a few months so must be good!

[PeachyClair]

DS1 has had to wear glasses full time since 18 months.

Don't worry about him at nursery: ds1 has also got Aspergers and refuses a hair cut (chopped while he slept in the end!), but her started Reception as glasses wearing curly haired kid (kevin keegan style but blonde) with a sad penchant for trackies. he never got picked on though; it's cute at 5, and when they're older they can get contacts.

The only real problem we have is getting ds to wear them: he breaks them as a direct way of stopping us from making him, so now i he is without as NHS repairs are worn out! getting some next week after three months.

He too has astigmatism; 50% vision. I have it also, not a lot better imho. I stopped wearing glasses at 14 through vanity, tbh did get picked on but that was a long time ago in the era of the nhs specs.

[Joanie]

My 2.5 DS has developed eye problems. He seems to go v cross-eyed and his left eye drifts towards his nose. Sometimes it goes so far it almost disapears and seems to get stuck. This bothers him and he often puts his hand to his eye at that point. This is getting worse. Rather worryingly, the past 2 days he has been rubbing his OTHER eye and saying 'eye'. The problem mostly seems to occur when he is eating, not when he is reading, strangely enough.

Does anyone know what this problem is called and is it correctable? Dr is refering him to eye clinic - hope it wont be too long.

[elliott]

thanks all for your experiences. So they don't make super-bendy indestructable specs for kids then Better check out my nearest specsavers!

[Cybermum]

The same happened with dd1 at her pre-school check. We usually took her prescription to Specsave as they had a reasonable choice of frames at NHS voucher price (so no cost) or just a little more. The important thing is to pick somewhere that's easy to get to, so you can take them back and get them fixed when they get broken! We always had them repaired for free - even when I drove off with them on the roof of the car - having put them there to keep them 'safe' after picking dd1 up from nursery lol!

She was a bit self- conscious about her glasses at nursery and in reception but by yr1 and 2 quite a lot of children have glasses. She's now 12 and loves getting new ones - but we still regularly take them back to get them fixed!

Hope this long ramble helps, I'm sure he'll cope and he probably wouldn't be the only child at nursery with glasses.

[macwoozy]

My ds is 5 now, but he was about your ds's age when he had to wear glasses. He also has astigmatism.

I've not known any glasses that can withstand punishment from a pre schooler so be prepared to travel to Specsavers farely frequently. I used to get so embarrased appearing for the umpteenth time with yet another broken pair, but I presume they're used to this.

My ds had a terrible squint, I was advised that he should wear his glasses as often as possible to strengthen his muscles around the eye. It did improve quite a bit actually. Keeping the glasses on him was a battle though, I used to take the glasses along to pre school and ask the teachers if they could encourage him to wear them. My ds still refuses to wear his glasses but now it appears that he's borderline on whether he actually needs glasses, so in my sons case his eyesight has improved. Good luck