It’s time to transition schools from traditional screenings to comprehensive children’s vision programming with a focus on ensuring that all children have the opportunity to reach their fullest potential by eliminating undetected and untreated vision problems as barriers to success in school and life. Additionally, these screenings take considerably longer, using up valuable time that school nurses need to dedicate to other student needs and costing valuable instructional time. The American Optometric Association estimates that as many as one-third of school children with potential vision problems are being missed in the traditional school based vision screening. However, in today’s high-volume, fast-paced school setting there are other more reliable, consistent options available that take the screening from just a task to a relevant exercise with important outcomes as they relate to learning.
Traditional screenings, when performed in the right setting under the best circumstances are still quite effective. Think of it like this: a traditional handsaw has proven over centuries to be an effective way to cut wood and can even be incredibly accurate however, it may not be the most appropriate or efficient tool to use when attempting to build a large house under deadlines carrying costs.
Traditional wall charts have certainly stood the test of time as a tool to help assess visual acuity however, given advancements in technology, wall charts and other manual methods of screening are no longer necessarily the best resource for the job. School-based vision screenings typically deal with a very large volume of students in a very short amount of time.