Pondering The Eye Appointment
I was totally shocked by some of the tests performed during the girls' eye appointment yesterday.
The depth perception test was pretty cool. That was on of the girls' favorite tests! They got to wear fun glasses and look at butterflies, etc... Her directions were a bit lacking, but the actual test felt age appropriate.
The standard eye chart test was questionable. How do they know if the child passed or failed the test based on their vision? It could have easily been their lack of skills and abilities with the alphabet. Sure, I know a lot of kids who have known their whole alphabet, by sight and sound, for quite a period of time. But I’m also positive that there are kids this age that do not.
Then there was some test she did out of a book, more of a nearsighted test it seemed. While I didn't have a good view of the inside of the book, I heard her questions and Ellie's answers as she flipped pages. As the Dr. flipped the pages she quizzed Ellie on what number was on each page. Again, many kids this age probably don't know their numbers. Especially double digit numbers like 96, by sight. Counting them and recognizing them are two entirely different things.
We've recently seen the test results for all the Kindergartener's in our district. The large range of abilities was astonishing. There are absolutely many kids who wouldn't be able to complete this eye exam, and not for lack of vision.
Fortunately the girls were able to successfully complete the entire eye exam. We left knowing that their eyes are healthy and developing as they should. But I left feeling like the tests at this "family" eye care place was lacking and not appropriate for their younger patients.
The depth perception test was pretty cool. That was on of the girls' favorite tests! They got to wear fun glasses and look at butterflies, etc... Her directions were a bit lacking, but the actual test felt age appropriate.
The standard eye chart test was questionable. How do they know if the child passed or failed the test based on their vision? It could have easily been their lack of skills and abilities with the alphabet. Sure, I know a lot of kids who have known their whole alphabet, by sight and sound, for quite a period of time. But I’m also positive that there are kids this age that do not.
Then there was some test she did out of a book, more of a nearsighted test it seemed. While I didn't have a good view of the inside of the book, I heard her questions and Ellie's answers as she flipped pages. As the Dr. flipped the pages she quizzed Ellie on what number was on each page. Again, many kids this age probably don't know their numbers. Especially double digit numbers like 96, by sight. Counting them and recognizing them are two entirely different things.
We've recently seen the test results for all the Kindergartener's in our district. The large range of abilities was astonishing. There are absolutely many kids who wouldn't be able to complete this eye exam, and not for lack of vision.
Fortunately the girls were able to successfully complete the entire eye exam. We left knowing that their eyes are healthy and developing as they should. But I left feeling like the tests at this "family" eye care place was lacking and not appropriate for their younger patients.
posted by Sonya at 7:58 AM
2 Comments:
It does seem really weird that they could do an eye exam like that on kids that age. Glad the girls' eyes are ok though!
I have taken M to 2 pediatric eye specialists in the past couple of years. They both did all kinds of tests, some of which seemed kind of fun, but in the end, both docs told me that a "good" ophthalmologist can look into the back of the eyes and know the prescription of a person (including an infant.) They said a lot of the time the tests given to young children are more for the parents than for actual diagnostics, though they are helpful in determining the extent to which the eyes may be misaligned, something that does need correction at the earliest possible age. I agree with the show for parents part. It is very interesting to watch!
mel
Post a Comment
<< Home