Thought I’d post a link about the InfantSEE program from the American Optometric Association. They’re a public health program working to make vision screening a normal part of the infant wellness care. They recommend having children screened at 6 months of age, and in fact provide free infant eye assessments in the first year of a child’s life. I’m not sure if a 6 month screening would have made a difference for us – Zoe’s strabismus didn’t show up until 9 months, but providing assessments at no cost is a great service. I looked through their section of information for parents and read that 1 in 25 children develop strabismus, so Zoe’s eye problems are really not at all uncommon.
I did have to laugh at this quote in their section on why to have your child screened at 6 months:
The good news about a trip to the optometrist is that there are no shots or cold stethoscopes. While the doctor will be shining a light in the baby’s eyes, and may spray a mist on eyelids or use eye drops to dilate the baby’s pupils, many infants seem to enjoy the “games” they play as part of the professional assessment.
Ha! I think Zoe hated the dilating eye drops followed by bright light in her eyes far more than any shots she’s gotten.
For Little Eyes 
Hooray for InfantSEE! We were encouraged to wait until close to 12 months for this screening and Eliza’s farsightedness was detected at 10 months. However, if it had not been for a plugged tear duct, we probably would not have followed up on the farsightedness. To be honest, I had kind of forgotten about it – and the doctor who first detected it said it may clear up on its own. When the plugged tear duct business was taken car of, the dr. remembered to check the farsightedness and here we are about to get glasses…
Glasses have not arrived yet, but we did get 3 books about kids getting glasses! (LOVE the older style of pictures in Arthur’s Eyes…oh yeah, Arthur is an aardvark!)
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That sounds a lot like what happened with us. We took Zoe in at 9 months and were told that she was farsighted, but that it might resolve itself. And it seemed like things got better for a few months before they got worse again at 13 months.
Good luck! You’ll have to tell us how the glasses work for Eliza.
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We got a few children’s books about characters with glasses…Agapanthus Hum, Arthur’s Eyes and Luna and the Big Blur. I was pretty disappointed in the last two, mainly because the message was that kids are teased about their glasses and don’t like to wear them. (I like Agapanthus because it focuses on a positive message and deals with a practical concern – how to keep your glasses on while being an active kid.)
Anyway, I was wondering if any of you have found picture books that are 1. geared toward littler kids and 2. send a more positive message? Although Eliza likes these stories, I’m considering removing them from our collection. (I may be singing a different tune when/if she actually DOES get teased or decide she doesn’t want to wear them!)
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The InfantSee program is supported by approproximately 7-8,000 docs of the American Optometric Association….with more signing up every day. Please get the word out about this wonderful program. There is no cost…and if every parent would bring their child in to see an optometrist we could stamp out “lazy eye” within our lifetimes!
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That’s great that there are so many participating optometrists! Do you have any numbers on how many parents take advantage of InfantSee? It’s such a great service to offer. I have to admit, I hadn’t heard of it until after Zoe had gotten her glasses, but I’m happy to get the word out to others.
Katherine, we haven’t really looked for any picture books targeted towards younger kids, but “Baby Duck and the Bad Eyeglasses” sounds like a good book. It starts out that baby duck doesn’t like her glasses because she’s afraid they’ll fall off, but from what I’ve read in the reviews, it has a very positive message. Maybe Ann W can weigh in.
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Well, when I posted the list of books with kids in glasses in them, I didn’t actually read them all. Heh, heh, sorry. I just found a list at my library and copied it down. I’m sorry you had a bad experience Katherine! However, I DID read “The Patch”, and I highly recommend that one! It’s about a girl who has to have both a patch AND glasses, and at first she doesn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. However, she turns it into something fun and has all her school-mates wanting glasses and a patch by the end of the day. The illustrations are fun too. Maybe that one would work better?
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