Toddlers and Children

Vision development relies on the different visual experience during childhood. We are not born with all the visual skills (e.g. visual tracking, accommodation, depth perception, etc), it is a continuous development throughout our childhood. If children are spending excessive time indoor and looking at near objects for too long, it may affect the development of their visual functions and may cause a rapid increase in their short-sightedness. Normal 3-D real life objects are much more important for the healthy development of vision comparing to virtual 2-D images (e.g. computer/ smartphone screen)

• Avoid prolong use of computer/ tablets/ smartphone.
• For every 20-30 minutes of visually demanding tasks, take a 5 minute break to either look at distant objects or close the eyes and rest.
• More outdoor activities and ball games (ball games are particularly good for the development of eye-hand coordination, visual tracking and binocular coordination)
• Keep a proper distance (approximately 40cm) for reading and writing.
• UV protection (with sunglasses or UV protected lenses)
• Keeping good posture and have sufficient lighting for reading and writing.

• Frowning or squinting the eyes for visual tasks
• Having one eye turned in/outward
• Closing one eye for reading
• Head turn/ tilt for visual tasks
• Difficulty copying from the board in class
• Seeing transient blur or double vision at times
• Skipping or omitting words when reading
• Losing place when reading
• Slow in reading and writing
• Poor handwriting
• Headache or dizziness after visual tasks
• Poor visual attention

Having good vision is critical for the learning and the holistic development of children. Detecting the problem early and having appropriate treatment can avoid any long-term impact to the child.