Show Your Child's The fact that your child doesn't complain about his eyesight may be lulling you into a false sense of there is a that his vision isn't as good as you may think it QUITE likely your child will never say Since he may well have been seeing the same way all of his even if it's or through only one without any point of he has no way of knowing it could be any He may be giving you some pointed to the fact that his vision is Excessive rubbing of the shutting or covering one difficulty with close frequent squinting or undue sensitivity to inflamed or watery recurring and itching and burning of the eyes are all signs of eye and indicate the need for a professional eye REACTING to such is at best a chancey way of protecting your child's The best defense against the development of serious vision problems and even unnecessary loss of according to the Utah Society for the Prevention of is to have a child's eyes examined shortly after and again by the age of And since a child's eyes grow and yearly eye examinations are recommended thereafter to make sure that both eyes are maintaining good EYE problems affect one in every 20 children between ages three and five and one in every four among the school-age Such statistics reinforce the need for parents to play a more active role in protecting their child's Eye if they remain can harmfully affect a child's his learning and his entire adjust-ment in AWARENESS of some of the common causes of eye disorders will not only help a parent to guard against but will underline the need for early attention to prevent possible permanent visual or lazy is the condition that eye authorities are most con- about because if it is i not discovered and treated before the age of six or seven it usually leads to permanent i reduction of vision in the af- IT IS often caused when one J eye turns in or out while the other sees so that a double image is sent to the The child solves this confusion by ignoring the message from one thus gradually weakening U 1 through The usual treatment is i patching the good eye in order to force the use of the weaker Sometimes this is cg with eye A RELATED eye is strabismus or the eyes are not properly but or out up or may be due to birth faulty excessive or certain illnesseS It cannot be will it improve by directed straightening the involve eye surgery and eH singly or in cam PARENTS should that such as myopia and astigmatism cm also cause psychological physical damage if not and treated at an m To encourage early tion to the a Home Test for Preschoolers is free by the Utah so that parents can test children at home B AVAILABLE in English it consists of an instructions on perl forming the test and judging and a report which the Society uses low follow-up and evaluation Another valuable aid foil parents are the vision ing programs which identify some of the children in need of eye 1 THESE ARE not equivalent to an eye buB they do test visual the clearness with which sees at a Such programs are ducted throughout the year Society-trained volunteer Any interested group arrange such a screening contacting the Society training or The society also several tive publications fl eye Eye Test for Signs of Eye Make Sure Has Two Good nd Crossed rm heedless a listing publication ind films on all aspects fl and safety is Utah Society of State No Ml Lake City M |