The New York Times Health page featured an article about 9-year-old Raea Gragg a few years ago. Unfortunately her story is not uncommon. A child has a vision problem that goes undetected for years. In the meantime that child is labeled and treated for a learning disability or behavioral disorder.
Many well-intentioned professionals are unaware that some visual disorders share several common symptoms with ADHD and ADD, and that can lead to a misdiagnosis, perhaps even unnecessary medication. Journalist Laura Novak writes, ”Doctors and teachers often attribute the behavior to attention disorders or seek other medical explanations. Mrs. Gragg said her pediatrician had never heard of convergence insufficiency.” Read the full article here: Not Autistic or Hyperactive. Just Seeing Double at Times
Complete EyeCare Center’s Optometrist, Dr. Olson, has the education and commitment to evaluate the visual system beyond the simple abilityto read an eye chart. A child like Raea may be able to read the chart’s 20/20 line and still have a vision problem. Perhaps her struggles could have been avoided if a trained InfantSee optometrist had seen Raea before age 1 and had performed a visual assessment at age 3, as recommended by the American Optometric Association. It is possible her convergence insufficiency could have been detected and treated before she began to experience symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, irritability, low self-esteem, inability to concentrate, aversion to reading, and difficulties in school.
Before you turn to medication, before you send your child to school, please ensure that your child doesn’t have a vision problem. We want to make it easy for parents to give their children a good start in life and follow the AOA guidelines for vision evaluation. Dr. Olson participates in the InfantSee program providing free assessments for 6-12 month olds. He has also developed his own free assessment program for children age 3, available exclusively at Complete EyeCare Center, called “See at 3!™” If there is a child in your life age 6-12 months or age 3 we encourage you to give them every chance to succeed–including the assurance from Dr. Olson that they are seeing well, with both eyes working together properly.
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