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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Before Back to School, See Your Optometrist for Better Learning
(COLLEYVILLE, TX), 8/01/2008 —Vision is a dominant process in the growth, development and daily performance of children. In fact, EIGHTY PERCENT OF WHAT STUDENTS LEARN IS THROUGH VISION. And yet, 86 percent of all school-age children have not had a complete eye examination - ever.
“This could
mean that thousands of school-aged children simply can’t see
correctly,” said Dr. Richard A. Driscoll from
Total Eye Care of
Colleyville. “Parents and teachers need to know that with a complete
eye examination, we can diagnose and begin treatment of many of
these debilitating vision and eye health issues.”
Students with poor vision can be misdiagnosed as learning impaired, as having attention deficient disorder, or are just plain left behind from their peer group. And these kids don’t know that they can’t see what their friend sees, because they don’t know what normal vision is like.
It also means that many children, by the time they have that first examination, may have a condition, such as amblyopia or lazy eye, which now cannot be treated and is the leading cause of blindness. If they had had a complete eye examination earlier in their lives, the condition could have been easily corrected.
“We encourage parents to have children examined three times prior to starting school: at 6 months, 3 years and before starting kindergarten,” said Dr. Driscoll. “This monitors eye development and can prevent conditions that may be irreversible in later years.”
Teachers can help too by letting parents know the importance of eye examinations and the link between good vision and successful learning. Children need to have a complete eye examination where visual acuity, eye health and vision skills are measured. And they need to have these examinations at an early age.
Comprehensive vision examinations can only be conducted by an eye care professional with the specialized training needed to make a definitive diagnosis and prescribe treatment. Keep in mind that a school vision screening, while a useful tool, is a limited process and cannot be used to diagnose an eye or vision problem, but rather to indicate a potential need for further evaluation.
Therapeutic Optometrist Dr. Rich Driscoll has been serving the eye care needs of Colleyville, Texas since 1995. His Colleyville office is located at 6114 Colleyville Blvd. Total Eye Care’s Keller office is located at 1834 Keller Parkway. More information can be found on The Eye Doc Blog or at totaleyecare.com
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American Optometric Association doctors of optometry are highly qualified, trained doctors, on the frontline of eye health and vision care, who examine, diagnose, treat, and manage diseases and disorders of the eye. In addition to providing eye and vision care, optometrists play a major role in an individual's overall health and well-being by appropriately detecting and diagnosing chronic and systemic diseases. Doctors of optometry have the skills and training to provide more than two-thirds of all fundamental eye care in the United States. The American Optometric Association represents more than 33,000 doctors of optometry, optometry students and paraoptometric assistants and technicians in nearly 6,500 communities across the country. For more information, visit www.aoa.org.
CONTACT: DR. RICH DRISCOLL, TOTAL EYE CARE, 817.656.5222,
www.totaleyecare.com & Press@ totaleyecare.NET
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