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Show Ik . .. V... - Back-to-sc- h ool ) exams a must If you've forgotten to have your child's eyes examined, you could be sending him-he- r off to school without one of the most valuable tools for successful learning pood vision. By PAT PHILLIPS one thing, it's easy to cheat on the test. It dates back to 1862 and your child has prob-ably seen it before. Also, the eye chart tells only one thing whether the child has 20-2- 0 vision. This means that ry- - Examination of the eye's exterior and interior for signs of eye disease or general health problems, such as high blood pressure or hardening of the arteries that may manifest them-selves in the eyes. Tests of the current ability to see sharply and clearly at near and far dis-tances. Tests to determine nearsightedness, farsighted-ness or astigmatism all common problems that can blur vision or cause visual discomfort. A check of eye coordi-nation and eye muscle-functio-to be certain the eyes are working together as a team. A test of the ability to change focus easily from near to far and vice versa. A glaucoma test for pa-tients over 35 or for those whose health history or other findings indicates a need. A child's first vision ex-amination, which the Ameri-can Optometric Association suggests should be before 1! - - IT IS IMPORTANT to have your children's eyes checked at least once a year to insure that they have every op-portunity and improve their ability to learn. the chances are good that other vision problems will pass unnoticed. Your child's eyes must be able to change focus quickly, move accurately across a page, distinguish colors and relay accurate messages to the brain. An eye chart can-not evaluate these functions, so your child could end up leaving school tired, with headaches and irritable be-cause of a vision problem. A complete professional optometric examination takes from 30 to 60 minutes and includes a battery of age 3, should include all of the above tests plus the fol-lowing: Tests of depth percep-tion and color vision. Motor tests to check ot coordination. When a child's family or behavior history indicates a need, a series of tests to determine whether or not the development of the child's vision skills is nor-mal. (These may include tests of size and shape awareness using building In one optometric study of learning-disable- d children, 90 percent had 20-2- 0 vision, but all had some vision prob-lem that hampered their ability to learn. Although most of these children had at least aver-age intelligence, their inabil-ity to learn at normal speed subjected them to teasing by classmates and pressure from parents and teachers resulting in frustrations that fostered delinquent behav-ior. The approaching school term gives parents a new chance to spot children's vi-sion problems by watching their youngsters' behavior and posture while doing homework, according to the American Optometric Asso-ciation. Symptoms to look for in-I clude: frequent clumsiness, difficulty reading or doing other close work, a short at-tention span for the child's age, frequent blinking, com-plaints of nausea, dizziness or headaches after reading or doing other close work, a tense position when looking at objects far away or close up, tilting the head notice-ably to one side when read-ing, holding books up very close to the eyes and contin-ued avoidance of reading and close work in favor of outside activities. If your child exhibits any or all of these symptoms, an eye examination is in order. Keep in mind that the vision screening given in schools, most often with an outdated eye chart, has its flaws. For r '' J - 1 , - f F ' ' - ' 4 JAMES R. SCHUBACH adjusting frames on customer to assure good fit and comfort. tests. While the specific tests given will vary with each patient's individual needs, all examinations should coven A review of the pa-tient's and family's general health and eye health histo- - blocks, tests of form percep-tion involving copying forms on paper or visual memory testing by completing in-complete pictures drawn on paper.) 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