The American Optometric Association (AOA) recommends scheduling your babies’ first eye exam at six months of age.
Healthy eyes and good vision play a critical role in how infants and children learn to see and eye and vision problems in infants can cause developmental delays. It is important to detect any problems early to ensure babies have the opportunity to develop the visual abilities they need to grow and learn.
InfantSEE® provides a no-cost eye assessment to any baby six to 12 months of age.
InfantSEE, a public health program, managed by Optometry Cares, the American Optometric Association’s charitable foundation, is designed to ensure that eye and vision care become an essential part of infant wellness care to improve a child’s quality of life. Through InfantSEE, volunteer optometrists provide a no-cost comprehensive infant eye assessment between six and 12 months regardless of income or insurance coverage.
“We’re looking at infant’s eye health, we’re also looking at how the eyes work together as a team. Eighty percent of what children learn in their development is through their eyes, so it’s so important that we catch things when their young between six to 12 months of age.” says Dr. Jennifer Smith Zolman, InfantSEE & Children’s Vision Committee Chair.
Despite the nation’s present system of preschool vision screening, there exists a lack of understanding by the public of the importance of periodic professional eye and vision assessments. It is estimated that one in four children has a vision problem that can interfere with learning and behavior, yet during the course of their young lives, many children never see an eye care practitioner who can provide the kind of professional eye assessment necessary to correct those problems.
Dr. Zolman explains, “a lot of eye health problems won’t present symptoms… it’s really important to get the right tests done to identify issues that may not get picked up during a screening or from a parent’s observation.”
Parents can ensure their baby’s visual system is on track by scheduling an InfantSEE assessment with an optometrist in their community.
Visit www.infantsee.org for more information.
