Children's Vision Checklists

For parents, 98% of all newborns come into the world with normal, healthy eyes. However, having normal healthy eyes does not guarantee that your child is able to efficiently interpret the world the way it is.

In fact, numerous studies have shown that early intervention testing your child's vision can help to remedy a range of vision problems before they impact your child's ability to learn. Here is a list of the more common signs of visual processing issues.

holding a book very close to read
difficulty learning to read
difficulty concentrating
always becoming tired/sleepy when attempting to read
eyes cannot hold focus. Blurred or double vision when reading
leaving out or confusing words when reading
may complain about lines moving on the page
mixes words
often clumsy / dropping, breaking things
sensitive to light
red or watery eyes
one eye turns in or out while the other eye points straight ahead
frequent blinking
covering or closing one eye
frequently rubbing the eyes
difficulty recognising objects in the distance
squinting when speaking to people
headaches

Does your child need a vision eye test?

Checklist: if a child routinely exhibits any of these signs, it's time for a check-up:

Holding a book very close (15 - 20 cm away).
Holding their head at an extreme angle to the book while reading.
Covering one eye while reading.
Squinting when doing work up close.
Sitting badly when working up close.
Moving head back and forth while reading instead of just using eyes.
Poor attention span, drowsiness after prolonged work, less than an arm's length away.
Requiring longer reading time for completing homework than they should.
Seeing blurring or double image while reading or writing or when work is hard.
Disoriented spatially when moving gaze from desk work to whiteboard or copying text.
Using marker / ruler / finger / to keep their place while reading.
Writing up or down hill, irregular letter or word spacing.
Reversing letters (b for d) or words (saw for was).
Re-reading or skipping words or lines unknowingly.
Failing to recognise the same word in the next sentence.
Misaligning digits in columns of numbers.
Headaches after reading.
Burning or itching eyes after doing near vision work.
Blinking excessively when doing work up close, but not otherwise.
Rubbing eyes during or after short periods of reading.
Declining comprehension ability as reading continues
Failing to visualise (cannot describe something they have just read about).