http://www.fridayschildmontessori.com/blog/does-your-child-need-glasses/ We all know that as we get older, our eyesight tends to go. However, a lot of people need glasses at a younger age. Some people start having to use glasses in their teens and some need them when they’re even younger. But how can you tell if your pre-schooler needs glasses?
2. For preschool children, it’s a bit
harder to pick an eye condition or
eye problem, especially as children
this age aren’t given to reading
books much.
3. However, if you are in the habit of
reading to your children (which is
something we strongly recommend
parents to do with children of any
age as it has so many benefits), you
might be able to pick the problem
earlier.
4. So what are the tell-tale signs that
might suggest that your child needs
glasses or at least needs a visit to
the optician?
5.
6. While some of the signs might be
caused by other issues (e.g. squinting
may be caused by bright lights), if
you notice your child doing some of
the things listed below, he or she
might have a vision
problem.
7. Talk to the staff at Friday’s Child
Montessori about any of these
concerns and things that you’d like
us to look out for. After all, a
Montessori teacher’s job is to
observe children and
gauge their abilities.
9. If your child squints all the time
when looking at things (pictures, TV)
or while doing tasks, this might
indicate a problem with vision. This
is especially the case if you notice
him or her squinting when the
light isn’t bright.
10. Getting too close to things:
If a child is short-sighted, he or she
will often try to compensate by
getting closer to the object or getting
the object closer to them.
11. For example, he or she might hold a
book very close to his/her face to
see the pictures properly or sit too
close to the TV.
12. If your child is playing a matching
game using plastic animals or
laminated cut-out pictures, he or she
might have to pick that object up
and hold it very close to the eyes to
identify it properly.
13. Children with short sight may also
bend down over work so they
can see it properly.
14. Getting far away from things:
The reverse of the above with far-
sightedness. Here, your child will get
further away from things to see
them properly, holding objects at
arm’s length and leaning
back away from things.
15. Rubbing eyes:
The muscles of the eyes will work
overtime to try to get things in focus,
so they get pretty tired and sore.
16. As well as making your child rub
his/her eyes a lot to ease the
soreness, your child may also get
headaches a lot, especially
headaches in the eyebrow area,
where a lot of these
muscles attach.
17. This symptom, of course, has to
appear alongside others, as
headaches and rubbing eyes have a
lot of causes.
18. Covering one eye or tilting the head
a lot:
Sometimes, the problem is in one
eye but not the other, or your child
may have double vision at certain
angles.
19. Children often try to compensate for
this by holding their head at an
awkward angle or by covering the
wonky eye and making do with just
one.
20. If you notice that your child is
always covering one eye – and it’s
the same eye every time – then this
could be a bit clue.
21. If you can see any of these
symptoms in your child, it is
important to bring him or her to an
eye specialist.
