Custom Eyes of Albany - Chidren's Vision - Eye Care, Corvallis, Albany, Lebanon, and Tangent Oregon

:: CHILDREN'S VISION ::

Vision of Infants

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Your baby has a whole lifetime to see and learn. But, did you know <b>your baby also has to learn to see</b>? As a parent, there are many things that you can do to help your baby's vision develop. First, proper prenatal care and nutrition can help your baby's eyes develop even before birth. At birth, your baby's eyes should be examined for signs of congenital eye problems. These are rare, but early diagnosis and treatment are important to your child's development.
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At about age six months, you should take your baby to your doctor of optometry for his or her first thorough eye examination. Things that the optometrist will test for include excessive or unequal amounts of nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism and eye movement ability as well as eye health problems. These problems are not common, but it is important to identify children who have them at this stage. Vision development and eye health problems can be more easily corrected if treatment is begun early.
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Unless you notice a need, or your doctor of optometry advises you otherwise, your child's next examination should be around age three, and then again before he or she enters school.
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Between birth and age three, when many of your baby's vision skills will develop, there are ways that you can help.
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During the first four months of life, your baby should begin to follow moving objects with the eyes and reach for things, first by chance and later more accurately, as hand-eye coordination and depth perception begin to develop.
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To help, use a nightlight or other dim lamp in your baby's room; <b>change the crib's position frequently and your child's position in it</b>; keep reach-and-touch toys within your baby's focus, <b>about eight to twelve inches</b>; talk to your baby as you walk around the room; alternate right and left sides with each feeding; and hang a mobile above and outside the crib at about 2-4 months.
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Between four and eight months, your baby should begin to turn from side to side and use his or her arms and legs. Eye movement and eye/body coordination skills should develop further and both eyes should focus equally. You should enable your baby to explore different shapes and textures with his or her fingers; give your baby the freedom to crawl and explore; hang objects across the crib; and play

From eight to twelve months, your baby should be mobile now, crawling and pulling himself or herself upright. He or she will begin to use both eyes together and judge distances and grasp and throw objects with greater precision. To support development don't encourage early walking; crawling is important in developing eye-hand-foot-body coordination. Give your baby stacking and take-apart toys, and provide objects your baby can touch, hold and see at the same time.

From one to two years, your child's eye-hand coordination and depth perception will continue to develop and he or she will begin to understand abstract terms. Things you can do are encourage walking; provide building blocks, simple puzzles and balls; and provide opportunities to climb and explore indoors and out.

There are many other affectionate and loving ways in which you can aid your baby's vision development. Use your creativity and imagination. Ask your doctor of optometry to suggest other specific activities.

Vision of Pre-School Children

During the infant and toddler years, your child has been developing many vision skills and has been learning how to see. In the preschool years, this process continues, as your child develops visually guided eye-hand-body coordination, fine motor skills and the visual motor skills necessary to learn to read.

As a parent, you should watch for signs that may indicate a vision development problem, including a short attention span for the child's age; difficulty with eye-hand-body coordination (clumsy) in ball play and bike riding; avoidance of coloring and puzzles and other detailed near activities.

There are everyday things that you can do at home to help your preschooler's vision develop.

These activities include reading aloud to your child and letting him or her see what you are reading; providing drawing material, teaching letters and how to spell first name, finger paints and different shaped blocks and showing your child how to use them in imaginative play. You can providing safe opportunities to use playground equipment like a jungle gym and balance beam; and allowing time for interacting with other children and for playing independently.

By age three or four, your child should have a thorough optometric eye examination to make sure your preschooler's vision is developing properly and there is no evidence of eye disease. If needed, your doctor can prescribe treatment including glasses and/or vision therapy to correct a vision developmental problem.

Here are several tips to make your child's optometric examination a positive experience: 1) Make an appointment early in the day. Allow about one hour. 2) Talk about the examination in advance and encourage your child's questions. 3) Explain the examination in your child's terms, comparing the E chart to a puzzle and the instruments to tiny flashlights and a kaleidoscope.

Unless your doctor of optometry advises otherwise, your child's next eye examination should be at age five. By comparing test results of the two examinations, your optometrist can tell how well your child's vision is developing for the next major step...entering his or her the school years.