Menu
Vision is one of the most important senses for child development. Research shows that approximately 80% of learning is visual; however, 5-10% of pre-schoolers and 25% of school-aged children may have a vision problem that, if left undetected, can affect their learning and development.
Young kids cannot reliably detect or report vision problems and may assume that everyone sees the way they do. Thus, there often are not obvious signs or symptoms to indicate that your child has a vision problem.
Vision screenings by other health practitioners do not always detect ocular problems and are not a reliable substitute for a comprehensive eye exam by a pediatric optometrist. Early detection and identification of vision problems is critical and helps with the treatment and correction of issues. For children with rapidly progression myopia (near-sightedness), we offer several myopia control treatment options known to slow down the progression of myopia.
Dr. Kelly (Sung Hee) Lee is a residency-trained optometrist in pediatrics and has extensive experience with infant and kids’ eye exams.
Check out our Instagram video to see what a baby’s first eye exam is like!
A pediatric eye exam will assess the presence of other internal and external health issues. The Canadian Association of Optometrists recommends infants have their first eye exam when they are between 6 and 9 months old. They also recommend school-aged children undergo an eye exam annually. Fortunately, OHIP covers annual eye exams for kids up to 19 years old.
If your child is having difficulty reading, learning, or paying attention at school, we recommend starting with a full comprehensive eye examination. An eye exam may rule out any of the conditions mentioned above as a cause.
The next recommended step is to assess the child’s full visual skills and visual information processing functions to rule out other vision-related causes that may contribute to learning difficulties. Our vision therapy services may improve visual diagnoses found during the assessment. It is expected that a child’s academic performance improves along with their sight attained through vision therapy.
Tonic Eye Care & Vision Therapy is a proud participant of the Eye See… Eye Learn® program. This government-funded program provides a complimentary pair of glasses to junior kindergarten children who require a vision correction.
Hours