It is important for school aged children to receive an eye exam before they begin school. Difficulty seeing and reading is one of the main reasons kids struggle in school and begin to fall behind with their school work. It is common for kids to struggle for years before they have any knowledge they do not see as well as their peers.  Have your children receive an eye exam sometime between the ages of 3-5 and before they begin school to ensure are not struggling to see.

• Approximately 6.8% of children younger than 18 years in the United States have a diagnosed eye and vision condition. Nearly 3 percent of children younger than 18 years are blind or visually impaired, defined as having trouble seeing even when wearing glasses or contact lenses.
• There were approximately 547,083 children with vision difficulty in the U.S. According to the 2019 ACS, there were 276,322 males and 270,761 females with vision difficulty under the age of 18 in the U.S.
• Based upon data from January of 2018, there were approximately 55,249 U.S. children, youth, and adult students in educational settings who were legally blind.
• Uncorrected refractive errors (including significant near-sightedness, far-sightedness, and astigmatism) in infants and preschool-age children are associated with clinically identified deficits in cognitive and visual-motor functions that may, in turn, have a negative impact on school readiness. Refractive errors make up 70% of decreased visual acuity​
• In 2016, 40 states required vision screening for school-age children and only 16 states required vision screening for preschool-age children. In 2020, 40 states mandate some type of vision screening for school-age children and 26 states required vision screening for preschool-age children.
• 39% of all children aged 5 and younger had ever had their vision tested with pictures, shapes or letters and 86% of children aged 6-11 had their vision tested with pictures, shapes or letters within the past 2 years.