Free children’s learning-related vision screenings
Dr. Audrey Dockins
Submitted by Castle Rock Eye Wear
“There is more to vision than meets the eye,” says Dr. Audrey Dockins, developmental optometrist at Castle Rock Eye Wear in the Village.
“Regular school vision screenings don’t test for many visual problems related to learning. Some of these visual skills include visual tracking of the eyes, ability to change focus, visual fusion of the image from each eye combining in the brain (eye teaming), and amblyopia (lazy eye).”
Many children who are struggling in school have not fully developed these visual skills. Once these visual skills improve, reading and learning require much less effort.
These visual problems are often developmental, which means that a particular child never fully developed a visual skill during infancy or as a toddler. A common example of this: some children never crawled much (or at all) as an infant. Crawling is a developmental stage that includes crucial experiences for the development of the brain, visual system and the integration of the body and the brain.
When a child doesn’t fully experience one of the developmental stages, it is like they are missing some important “bricks” in their foundation of development. When we do visual therapy, we are re-creating the experiences that were missed, thus strengthening the foundation of development and learning becomes easy and fun.
Children with other diagnoses such as ADD, ADHD, children born prematurely, dyslexia, or other learning-related problems should be evaluated by a developmental optometrist to determine if a visual problem is contributing to the child’s challenges.
On Saturday, August 11, Castle Rock Eye Wear will be offering free learning-related vision screenings beginning at 10 a.m. Please call 303-663-2034 for an appointment. Appointments are recommended due to limited time and space.
