Pediatric Eye Exams

Best Pediatric Optometrist in Houston

Heights Eye Studio specializes in pediatric eye exams. Dr. Peter Nguyen has had extensive training with children's eye exams. Rest assured that your child would be receiving the most accurate prescription and thorough check of eye health. At Heights Eye Studio, we will check for astigmatism, visual perception, color blindness, hand-eye coordination, and how the eyes are working together to focus and track material. We see children of all ages, including infants. Any type of issue within these areas will impact a child’s development and education.

Do you remember being a child heading to the school nurse to get your eyes checked? The school nurse had you cover an eye individually and read off letters from the eye chart. Sometimes you would cheat so that you would pass the “test”. This is an efficient way for the school nurse to screen children with visual deficits. Hence, why these exams are called “vision screenings”. However, it does not catch many other visual problems that can hinder a child’s social development and learning. 

Vision Screenings compared to Pediatric Eye Exams
One of the biggest components of an eye exam is visual acuity. Vision screenings that have a big E chart do accomplish this goal. However, vision conditions aren’t just solely related to diagnoses of nearsightedness or farsightedness. 

Undiagnosed Vision Problems
Trying to focus on reading can be very uncomfortable when your eyesight is not corrected. This issue can be exponential when you are a young child without the ability to express your frustration. Most children do not understand how their eyes are supposed to work and do not know how to explain it to an adult. Therefore, most children think their visual problems are normal and continue certain behaviors such as fidgeting, excessive blinking, or have problems concentrating. The last thing parents and optometrists want is for kids to think learning is not fun or they’re not smart enough for school.

80% of learning is done visually because kids spend most of their time reading the whiteboard, writing, and reading textbooks. If your child has an undiagnosed vision problem, it may put a roadblock in your child’s learning. It is also not uncommon for these children to be misdiagnosed with a learning disability when their true issue is a vision problem. 

Symptoms of an Eye Problem
Symptoms to be on the lookout for include crossed eyes (strabismus), trouble with schoolwork or reading comprehension, attention deficit, headaches, covering an eye, fidgeting, and frequent eye rubbing or blinking. If your child has any of these symptoms, it is imperative they come in for a pediatric comprehensive eye exam. A pediatric eye exam is the only way to rule out all vision problems so that your child can get back to learning. We are excited to see you and your child soon!