Did you know that roughly ten million school children in the US have vision conditions that make it harder for them to learn? What many parents don’t know is that although schools provide vision screenings, these vision screening aren’t remotely enough.

Here’s why. The purpose of school screenings is merely to check a child’s ability to see up close and from a distance. Even if your child has “20/20” vision, all this really means is that they could correctly read the letters on the vision test from 20 feet away. (That’s what the 20 in 20/20 refers to.) Sometimes these screenings also check for color blindness.

Of course, the school vision screenings are better than no screening, but when it comes to detecting more subtle visual impairments or difficulties, they’re really just not enough. Many difficulties reading and focusing deal with eye coordination, and that’s one of those conditions that is harder to diagnose. Sometimes kids that seem like they’re just clumsy are actually having difficulty focusing correctly. Likewise, many kids that hate reading don’t realize that the reason they hate it because they’re experiencing eye strain.

At Washington Vision Therapy Center, we pride ourselves on being experts at pinpointing the visual conditions that may be creating these kinds of difficulties. Not all kids need vision therapy, but if your child does, you will be so happy you reached out to us!