Vision care is an essential part of maintaining your overall health, especially for children. Regular eye exams can help make sure that your child’s eyes are healthy and that they have no major vision problems.
As your child’s eyes develop, they may need eyeglasses to help adjust their vision. Eyeglasses can ensure normal vision development and even correct some vision problems if they are detected early.
August is Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month, and at LevelUp Kids, we want parents to know our vision care options for their children. Let’s take a look at why eye health is important and how you may be eligible for free eyeglasses here in Kansas City.
Importance of Eye Health for Young Children
Proper eye health is critical for your child’s vision development. Children need certain visual skills for optimal learning in school, including excellent visual acuity for all distances, comfortable eye teaming skills, and accurate eye movements. By correcting a child’s vision, we can improve their ability to learn every day.
Eyeglasses and contacts may be necessary to correct vision. Not being able to see clearly can become frustrating and uncomfortable for your child and result in poor academic performance. Detecting and treating vision problems early, such as poor vision or lazy eye complications, is preferable. These problems can be corrected early when a child’s vision system is still developing.
Common Reasons Children Need Eyeglasses
There are many reasons why children may need glasses. As a child’s vision system is developing, glasses assist with several different problems and complications. Here is a look into some of the conditions that can be corrected or improved with eyeglasses.
Better Vision
Eyeglasses provide corrected vision, allowing for your child to function better in their environment. This is especially important at school, where they need to see at all distances to maximize their learning.
Improve Refractive Errors
There are multiple reasons why your child may be unable to see. Myopia, or near-sightedness, is when your child can see reading or performing nearby tasks, but not at a distance. On the other hand, hyperopia (far-sightedness) allows your child to see at a distance but not up close.
Another common refractive error is astigmatism, where the eye is shaped differently in its surface curvature. This causes fine details of objects to look distorted and blurred.
Correct Strabismus
Strabismus is another term for crossed or misaligned eyes. This can happen if your child is over-straining their eye muscles to see clearly. Eyeglasses can help to relax and fix any vision misalignment.
Improve Amblyopia and Anisometropia
Also known as “lazy eye,” amblyopia causes the vision in one eye to not develop normally. Eyeglasses can help to strengthen the vision of a weak eye.
Anisometropia is a similar condition where one eye’s prescription is different from the other. One eye may see normally, while the other suffers from near- or far-sightedness. Or one eye may be near-sighted while the other far-sighted. Glasses can provide protection to the stronger eye and help correct poor vision in the weaker eye.
Getting Your Child Free Eyeglasses Through LevelUp Kids
Common vision problems can become severe if they aren’t detected and treated when your child is young. To prevent any future major vision troubles, it’s crucial to provide your child with eyeglasses when they need them.
Here are the steps you can take to get free eyeglasses for your children.
1. Listen to Your Child
Although some children may not vocalize their vision concerns to you, it’s important to pay attention if their academic performance suddenly starts to decline. Your child may also tell you of any discomfort they experience with their eyes or if they are getting frequent headaches.
If your child has voiced concerns or you’ve noticed something to indicate vision problems, it’s time to take your child to the eye doctor.
2. Free Eye Exam Through LevelUp Kids
Contact your child’s school to see if LevelUp Kids is scheduled to visit soon. If not, you can also bring your child to our office for their exam.
For school visits, your child will leave their class for about 15 minutes for their vision screening. Their results are printed immediately and sent home with them. If screening results show any cause for concern, our staff will recommend a comprehensive eye exam. Children that meet our specific income guidelines can receive free exams.
3. Getting Free Eyeglasses
Children of low-income families or of families enrolled in Medicaid are eligible for free eyeglasses. If we determine that your child needs glasses to correct vision problems, we will provide two pairs that they will receive a few weeks after their exam.
LevelUp Kids offers many different services to children of low-income families, including free vision and dental care, and free eyeglasses for children. Our team works with schools to provide care to children in the Kansas City area. If you would like to donate to our organization, contact us today or become a partner.