Back to school 2011

With most schools and colleges starting back this week, it's time to remember that your child's vision is very important in learning. The school screening tests just check distance vision (and colour vision for Year 7 boys) and are really "focussed" :-) on seeing that the two eyes see similarly, so that they both develop in tandem. And of course much of classroom work, and homework, is to do with close vision - reading, writing, drawing, computer-based work. The school screenings do not test for this.

The Visique and NZAO websites explain more about the signs you should look for to see if your child might be having a visual problem - sore eyes, red eyes, rubbing the eyes, heaaches and avoiding using the eyes are the most obvious. But we recommend that every child in the middle school has a full eye exam, and from that we can often predict how well and how comfortably the child will see in most situations as he or she goes through school.

Sports vision is a speciality of some optometrists, so we can refer your budding archer, cricketer or clay pigeon shooter for extra visual training if need be. And sometimes wearing contact lenses rather than glasses means that school is a hppier place to be - many of us were called "four eyes" at school and I know that (unfortunately) this still happens.

Until 28 March, all children's vision exams (for children under 18) gain an extra 30 bonus Fly Buys points. So it is an especially good time to have your child's vision, eye health and eye co-ordination examined at present. Phone to book in soon.