Student Eye Care
Programs For
Educational Institutions
School vision screening (student eye exam)
1 in 4 school-age children have a vision disorder
Approximately 80% of all learning during a child’s first 12 years comes through the eyes. From reading to catching a ball at recess, all school activities require heavy visual involvement. When visual skills are poorly developed, learning is difficult and stressful. In fact, many children receive life-altering misdiagnosis of learning disabilities when they simply have a vision disorder.
All children should have a comprehensive eye exam at 3 years old, and at the beginning of every school year as their vision changes, but less than 15% of all pre-school children ever receive an eye exam. School vision screenings help bridge the gap, for every child to be able to reach their full potential.
"Adults with vision problems usually seek help from an eye care specialist, but children often think the way they see is the way everyone sees, which is why parents and teachers need to become their advocates for healthy eyes."
Every child deserves to experience the benefits of good vision
Good vision is key for literacy and all academic success. Correcting vision problems opens doors to countless possibilities.
Seeing and reading comfortably and effortlessly increases confidence, self-esteem and motivation inside and outside the classroom.
With improved vision comes improved quality of life. Good vision is essential for safety and maintaining independence.
Gaps in Care: Less than 20% of your eye-brain functions are examined in Thai hospitals
Gaps in care refers to the discrepancy between recommended best practices and the care that is actually provided to patients. As you can see from the table below, there are 5 main types of eye-brain functions involved in vision: Visual pathway integrity, visual efficiency, spatial processing, visual analysis, and visual integration.
In Australia (global 1st in healthcare outcomes), eye doctors–optometrists and ophthalmologists–work together to provide complete eye care. During an eye exam, an optometrist would assess all functions under “Visual pathway integrity” and “Visual efficiency” (Column 1 and 2), before prescribing any required ocular medication and/or treatment. The optometrist would then refer the patient to a behavioral optometrist for assessment of the remaining functions (Column 3, 4 and 5). Any patient who may require surgery and/or oral medication would be referred to an ophthalmologist.
In contrast, most optometrists in Thailand today assess a patient’s vision acuity, refractive status and accommodation in order to prescribe spectacles or contact lenses. Only in hospitals would a patient’s “Visual pathway integrity” functions be examined. An eye exam at a hospital generally consists of non-eye specialists, such as technicians and nurses, running tests on the patient before an ophthalmologist analyzes the end results. This process makes it more likely to miss early indicators of disease.
On top of that, ophthalmologists typically find indicators of disease in order to treat the patient. But sometimes, conditions detected during eye exams are in such early stages that it is deemed unnecessary (for ophthalmologists) to even mention to the patient. Meanwhile, as primary eye care practitioners, optometrists seek early indicators of disease in order to prevent the disease from occuring, and protect against disease progression. So when an ophthalmologist says “Your eyes are fine,” an optometrist may say otherwise and offer suggestions. Ophthalmologists may also test for basic “Visual efficiency” in children under 6 years old, to diagnose amblyopia (lazy eye) or strabismus (misaligned eyes).
Through the Thai healthcare system, over 80% of eye-brain functions involved in vision are never examined, and less obvious conditions in children like binocular vision dysfunction are overlooked. As a result, 25% of our children suffer silently as untreated binocular vision problems hinder aspects of child development and cause learning difficulties, eye discomfort, headaches, and a ton of other symptoms.
At Sornthai, our optometrists are trained to provide Australian-standard (AHPRA) eye care which includes examining all eye-brain functions involved in vision.
We are a team of passionate eye care specialists, led by a family and behavioral (pediatric) optometrist with extensive experience in both Thailand and Australia.
Info & Guidelines
Prepare Your Students For School Vision Screening
During a vision screening, our eye doctors conduct a series of short, one-on-one, non-invasive tests to detect whether each student has eye or vision problems. Students with non-typical screening results may require further evaluation by an optometrist or ophthalmologist.
From our experience in conducting school vision screenings across the Northern Queensland Coast (Australia), a screening for 80 students can take up to 5 hours. We typically set up 2 stations to:
1. Measure visual acuity (clarity of vision)
2. Assess visual/binocular function (eye teaming skills)
Before the day of the screening, teachers are asked to pass out Parent Permission Slips for students to bring home. Only students with a signed permission slip are allowed to go through vision screening. For accurate screening results, teachers should remind students to get a good night’s sleep the day before. We also ask teachers to prepare a list of all the students’ name and date of birth for roll calls and vision screening reports for parents. On the day of vision screening, we usually ask teachers to bring 10 students to the screening room, and 10 back on a 30-minute interval.
After vision screening, all students will receive a letter with screening results to bring home to their parents/guardians. It must be noted that vision screenings do not replace a comprehensive eye exam, which is crucial for every child with developing vision or between the ages of 3 and 18.
Request Free
School Screening
At Sornthai and through our family of companies, we believe that healthy vision is a fundamental right that grants remarkable opportunities for growing children. That is why we offer student screenings free of charge to all educational institutions. Please fill out the form below to request free vision screening for your students.
To request free screenings for teachers and school staff, click here.
Primary eye care by Australian
board-certified optometrist
Primary eye care by Australian board-certified optometrist