PEDIATRIC EYECARE SERVICES
Good Vision for Children Aids Physical and Academic Development
The American Optometric Association recommends that a child has their first comprehensive eye examination at 6 months of age. Many conditions could be present and possibly impede normal visual development. Functional vision is essential for fine and gross motor development, language development, social skills, as well as academic achievement.
By detecting and treating early, we ensure that your child can have normal visual function, which is critical during their developmental and academic years. A pediatric eye and vision examination performed by our pediatric experts at North Suburban Vision Consultants is quite different from that given to adults.
During your child’s comprehensive examination, a variety of objective methods are utilized to assess eyes and vision. Our doctors are not dependent solely on subjective responses from our young patients.
By detecting and treating early, we ensure that your child can have normal visual function, which is critical during their developmental and academic years. A pediatric eye and vision examination performed by our pediatric experts at North Suburban Vision Consultants is quite different from that given to adults.
We use specialized instrumentation and evaluation methods that are not only efficient and accurate, but often are quite fun for our younger patients!
Children with undiagnosed visual difficulties may experience frustration and lack of interest in reading and schoolwork. Fortunately, with proper diagnosis and treatment, most of these conditions can be turned around quickly and the child will show a renewed interest in schoolwork and reading.
One important condition to diagnose early is amblyopia (what is inappropriately termed “lazy eye”). Amblyopia is found in over 2% of the population and often goes undetected early in life, unless a child receives a comprehensive pediatric eye examination. Early detection is key for successful intervention, which often cures this condition. A common misperception is that if amblyopia persists beyond a certain age then treatment is not warranted. Recent research has proved that cortical plasticity (the brains ability to change) allows for improvement with amblyopia therapy in older children and suggests adults can be treated successfully as well.
Our team of experts recommends that all children receive a pediatric eye examination by the age of 6 months as a baseline and again before starting kindergarten. At that point a comprehensive eye examination schedule will be discussed with you based on your child’s examination findings.