Vision and Eye Health

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, children of all ages were spending more screen time than ever before on cellphones, tablets, and laptops. Health professionals (often caregivers themselves) have needed to adopt a flexible attitude toward screen time, considering the families they serve are impacted so differently by the pandemic due to racial and economic disparities. Amid the recurring tough decisions about attending school in person or remotely, most parents and caregivers have found digital…

Everywhere we go, my little man gets all the attention. Being adorable (yes, I’m biased) helps, but people are always asking about his glasses. When did he get them? How did you know he needed them? Was it a special screening, because our pediatrician didn’t do that? Will he grow out of them? Does he…

Early childhood eye care can drastically change a child’s health and well-being. For a baby, treatment for a vision impairment could protect against development delays. For kindergarteners, diagnosis and treatment could improve school performance. Yet with specialty doctors catering to young children sometimes hours away, complicated insurance coverage and costs, and competing priorities from parents,…

Vision issues are the most preventable disabling condition that children experience, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). But since young children aren’t able to articulate vision impairments, diagnosis and treatment relies entirely on regular screenings. Early screening can detect serious health concerns and prompt proactive intervention. If left undiagnosed, vision impairments can result…

Parents of children with special health needs become experts on their children’s condition in a way that doctors and administrators cannot. Their countless hours on the front line, navigating the healthcare system and other community resources, gives them invaluable insight into how these systems work (and do not work) for them. That is why NICHQ…

As part of the Improving Children’s Vision: Systems, Stakeholders & Support (ICV) collaborative, the state team in Arizona found that many children were not only failing their vision screenings, but many were also lost to follow-up and not receiving necessary interventions early enough. “This is a huge issue for us: kids failing a screening and…

In grade school, where seats were assigned alphabetically, Kira Baldonado, whose maiden name started with a Z, always sat at the back of the classroom. She couldn’t see well, but she didn’t know that. She had no base of comparison. It wasn’t until second grade that Baldonado had an eye exam, was diagnosed with a…