The Eye Chart Does More Harm Than Good.

Some eye opening advice to educators and parents: Don't be overly impressed that children can pass an eye chart test with a 20/20 score. All 20/20 eyesight means is that one can see clearly at a distance of 20 feet. Unfortunately, how well a child sees something at 20 feet has no relationship whatsoever to how well he or she sees something at reading distance--where most learning takes place.

Many children with debilitating vision problems have "perfect" 20/20 eyesight. This misconception that 20/20 holds significant value has lead me to campaign for a recall on the Snellen eye chart, which I strongly feel does more harm than good.

Devised in 1863, the Snellen chart is shaped like a pyramid with a large "E" at the apex with smaller and smaller lines of letters below. While the Snellen can detect nearsightedness or astigmatism, it is unable to fully detect poor form perception, poor eye coordination, and other problems. It is a good test for doctors to sell glasses but a bad test for children.

The Snellen test gives a false sense of security to parents and teachers that vision is normal, and serious problems, not revealed in an eye chart test, can go overlooked. This can result in children experiencing poor reading skills and later academic failure. We see so many children in our office who have learning disabilities because their visual abilities did not develop adequately to handle the demands of school related tasks. We also know that these learning disabilities could have been prevented if the children would have had the proper guidance so that these visual abilities could have developed properly.

Undetected vision problems can surface in a variety of ways that often create the impression a child is an underachiever, slow, or disabled, and sends parents and educators searching for a cause.

Symptoms that indicate possible visual problems include a child not working up to his or her potential in school, reversals of letters and words when reading or writing, omitting or confusing small words, loss of place while reading, using a finger to maintain place, short attention span, daydreaming in class, distorted posture when reading or writing, and verbal abilities that surpass ability to learn visually.

I can't stress enough that children should have a complete vision screening before entering school. If a problem is detected, a behavioral optometrist can help the child overcome the effects of the condition (such as problems with poor eye coordination and improper spatial localization) with vision therapy, a form of rehabilitative and developmental therapy that helps patients develop or recover normal visual skills.

Vision therapy is remarkably successful in rehabilitating all types of binocular vision impairments including amblyopia (lazy eye), strabismus (crossed eyes), or loss of binocular fusion. In regards to the development or recovery of binocular vision, vision therapy is much more successful than surgery or glasses alone.

-- An authority on vision therapy, as well as sports vision training, Dr. Getz recently teamed with Visual Edge, Inc. of Valencia, CA to launch a website (www.visual-edge.org) aimed at educating parents, teachers, and individuals about preventive and alternative treatments for learning disabilities, ADD, dyslexia, strabismus, lazy eye, and other vision related problems.

Dr. Getz is Associate Professor at the Southern California College of Optometry and served as President of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development. He maintains a private practice in Van Nuys, California.

For more information on vision and learning disabilities, log on www.visual-edge.org or contact Dr. Donald Getz at 818-997-7888 or Visual Edge, Inc., PO Box 55666, Valencia, CA 91385.

Article submitted by Steven Roth, President, Visual Edge, Inc., [e-mail].