3 year old Eye test

tred

Hi all,
We just had our 3 year old in for an eye test. First part of the test, the nurse handed us a sheet with large letters then , she asked my son, from a distance what letter she was pointing at, and point to it on the sheet. So he got on fairly well for first eye, but then i could see he was losing concentration..i.e this isn't fun....also...i noticed that even eye couldn't deduce properly at times what letter she was pointing at, 3 fingers under them etc.....i just wasn't happy and said...what a waste of time..hes too young for this. Anyway, then he had drops put in..horrible and the optician...checked his yes with different machines. He deduced that he was slight long sited and one eye slightly better than the other..

Long and short of it is, there now saying he should wear glasses , but i am not sure. If i knew that the optician was making this decision based on the eye machines alone, id be OK, but i got the feeling he was being influenced by the crap eye test the nurse gave. Neither me or my wife wear glasses, and i am worried are we going to introduce now something that might actually have an adverse effect.............anyone any thoughts...? or am i over reacting?

bored and tired

my phn picked up on a slight squint that my daughter has that i had never even noticed and got us an appointment for a similar test but through the local hospital. the nurse was well used to dealing with children, the test was with pictures not letters, holograhic pictures, and really kept my daughters attentiont the hole way through.

i was really happy with the result even though there were no machines involved at all.

if your not happy, go to another optican, or ask your phn for a referral for an eye exam. Getting glasses if they are not needed surely will only cause a problem!!

littlebug

I would err on the side of caution when it comes to their eyes (but then that's because I have eye problems myself as has my husband). When my two were 3 and 5 I had them both tested. Like bored and tired they used pictures rather than letters which made it more interesting. They then determined based on that test whether or not they needed further investigation. My son didn't but my daughter did so we came in another day for the drops and machine tests. My daughter turned out to be slightly long sighted and the optician explained that wearing the glasses now could "fix" the problem and she mightn't need to wear them when she's bigger. I have no problem with that.

When I was a child I tried for years to hide the fact that I couldn't see what was on the blackboard because I didn't want to wear glasses (and got given out to by the teachers because I didn't know what they were asking me). Even my parents didn't know how bad my eyesight was. Those years of straining to see may have led to my eyesight being so bad now. My husband has problems with driving now because as a child he had a squint that never got fixed.
My parents didn't wear glasses either... that's irrelevant.
If you feel your child wasn't tested properly then you should get a second opinion.
Why did you get his eyes tested in the first place? Did you think there was a problem?


ETA: the decision on whether or not my daughter needed glasses was based on the machine tests in the end, not on the original picture test.

tred

littlebug wrote: »

I would err on the side of caution when it comes to their eyes (but then that's because I have eye problems myself as has my husband). When my two were 3 and 5 I had them both tested. Like bored and tired they used pictures rather than letters which made it more interesting. They then determined based on that test whether or not they needed further investigation. My son didn't but my daughter did so we came in another day for the drops and machine tests. My daughter turned out to be slightly long sighted and the optician explained that wearing the glasses now could "fix" the problem and she mightn't need to wear them when she's bigger. I have no problem with that.

When I was a child I tried for years to hide the fact that I couldn't see what was on the blackboard because I didn't want to wear glasses (and got given out to by the teachers because I didn't know what they were asking me). Even my parents didn't know how bad my eyesight was. Those years of straining to see may have led to my eyesight being so bad now. My husband has problems with driving now because as a child he had a squint that never got fixed.
My parents didn't wear glasses either... that's irrelevant.
If you feel your child wasn't tested properly then you should get a second opinion.
Why did you get his eyes tested in the first place? Did you think there was a problem?


ETA: the decision on whether or not my daughter needed glasses was based on the machine tests in the end, not on the original picture test.

thanks for the reply. We never asked for him to be tested, and never spotted a problem or noticed anything. But, I believe my wife was asked during one of his early development checks, are there any eye sight problems in the family and she said , neither me nor my husband wear glasses, but, his uncles do, and one of his aunts on the other side, and then that was it. We have decided to go for another test next week. Apparently they use colors and shapes. I don't want to neglect his eyes, don't get me wrong, but if hes wearing glasses, and doesn't need them, and hes wearing them because some person didn't do the first part of the test right, then that would be neglect as well....thanks for the advice.

littlebug

tred wrote: »

We have decided to go for another test next week. Apparently they use colors and shapes. I don't want to neglect his eyes, don't get me wrong, but if hes wearing glasses, and doesn't need them, and hes wearing them because some person didn't do the first part of the test right, then that would be neglect as well....thanks for the advice.

I think you're doing the right thing.

tallaght01

tred wrote: »

thanks for the reply. We never asked for him to be tested, and never spotted a problem or noticed anything. But, I believe my wife was asked during one of his early development checks, are there any eye sight problems in the family and she said , neither me nor my husband wear glasses, but, his uncles do, and one of his aunts on the other side, and then that was it. We have decided to go for another test next week. Apparently they use colors and shapes. I don't want to neglect his eyes, don't get me wrong, but if hes wearing glasses, and doesn't need them, and hes wearing them because some person didn't do the first part of the test right, then that would be neglect as well....thanks for the advice.

Are they sending toddlers for eye tests in Ireland based on uncles and aunts wearing glasses now?? The queues at the opticiand must be like a russian breadshop. Who suggested the eye test? If you don't mind me asking?

It obviously needs to be looked into if there's any ambiguity, but I'm just curious about who's instigating these tests?

tred

tallaght01 wrote: »

Are they sending toddlers for eye tests in Ireland based on uncles and aunts wearing glasses now?? The queues at the opticiand must be like a russian breadshop. Who suggested the eye test? If you don't mind me asking?

It obviously needs to be looked into if there's any ambiguity, but I'm just curious about who's instigating these tests?

I think it came from the Public health nurse. Some questionaire. any glasses in ur family. and my wife mention my brother and her sister.

littlebug

I was wondering about that as well Tred. She didn't say she noticed anything amiss then In our case we instigated the the tests ourselves because of family history and because my son was doing a funny blinky/ squinty thing sometimes.