Ensuring your child’s healthy development includes regular eye examinations. At Coleman Vision, serving Joplin, MO and the surrounding areas, we understand the critical role clear and comfortable vision plays in a child’s learning and overall well-being. The American Optometric Association, alongside leading eye care professionals like those at Coleman Vision, recommends comprehensive vision and eye health exams for preschool children at six months, three years, and five years of age. Particularly, a thorough evaluation just before starting Kindergarten is crucial. And as your child enters school, annual eye exams are recommended to monitor their vision as they grow and learn. If you have any concerns about your child’s learning or visual performance, further developmental vision testing, such as a Neuro-Visual Performance Analysis, may be advised.
Child getting an eye exam at an eye doctor in Joplin, MO, highlighting the importance of pediatric vision care.
More Than Just 20/20: Comprehensive Vision Care for Kids
Many people believe that 20/20 vision is all that matters for healthy eyesight. However, 20/20 acuity simply indicates the sharpness of vision at a distance – the ability to see a specific letter size on a standard eye chart from 20 feet away. True, effective vision encompasses much more than just seeing clearly at a distance.
Our comprehensive eye exams at our Joplin, MO clinic go far beyond the basic 20/20 test. We meticulously evaluate a range of crucial visual skills that are essential for your child’s daily life, learning, and development. These skills include:
Visual Acuity at Near
Is your child’s vision clear and single when focusing on close-up tasks? Clear near vision is paramount for reading, writing, detailed work, computer use, and many other activities. Difficulties with near visual acuity can significantly impact academic performance and enjoyment of hobbies. We assess your child’s ability to see clearly and comfortably at close distances to ensure they can thrive in these visually demanding tasks.
Eye Teaming Skills
Do your child’s eyes work together as a coordinated team? Effective binocular vision, or eye teaming, is when both eyes aim, move, and function in unison. Weaknesses in these skills can lead to various problems, including convergence insufficiency (difficulty pointing the eyes inward for near tasks) and poor depth perception. These issues can manifest as eye strain, headaches, double vision, and difficulties with reading and sports. Our comprehensive exam evaluates how well your child’s eyes team together to create a single, clear, three-dimensional image of the world.
Eye Focusing Skills
Can your child maintain clear vision when shifting focus between different distances? The ability to rapidly and automatically adjust eye focus is critical for learning, reading, writing, sports, and countless other activities. Deficiencies in eye focusing skills can result in visual fatigue, reduced reading comprehension, avoidance of close work, and general discomfort. We assess the flexibility and accuracy of your child’s focusing system to ensure they can adapt to the visual demands of their environment with ease and efficiency.
Eye Movement Skills
Do your child’s eye movements demonstrate adequate muscle control, smooth tracking, and steady fixation? In the classroom, normal eye movements enable quick and accurate shifting of gaze along lines of text, between books, desks, and the whiteboard. In sports, efficient eye movements contribute significantly to eye-hand coordination, visual reaction time, and accurate tracking of moving objects. We evaluate the precision and control of your child’s eye movements to ensure they can navigate their visual world effectively, both in learning and play.
These are just a few of the many vital visual skills we assess during our comprehensive vision exams at our eye doctor clinic in Joplin, MO. In addition to these functional vision evaluations, we also thoroughly examine the health of your child’s eyes, both internally and externally. This includes careful screening for conditions such as cataracts, glaucoma, and other health-related issues like hypertension and diabetes that can sometimes be detected through an eye exam.
Neuro-Visual Performance Analysis (NVPA): Understanding Learning-Related Vision Issues
For some children, visual difficulties may extend beyond basic vision skills and impact their learning and academic performance. That’s why Coleman Vision in Joplin, MO offers the Neuro-Visual Performance Analysis (NVPA).
What is a Neuro-Visual Performance Analysis (NVPA)?
The NVPA is a specialized series of tests designed to pinpoint specific strengths and weaknesses in areas crucial for learning, including visual-motor integration, visual processing, auditory analysis screening, tracking, and gross motor skills screening. Depending on your child’s age and reading ability, we may also utilize the Visagraph II Computerized Eye Movement Recording system. This advanced instrument uses infrared technology to analyze reading efficiency by tracking eye movements, fixations, regressions, and other characteristics during reading tasks. The NVPA testing is conducted in our dedicated Therapy Center by a member of our trained therapy staff.
What to Expect During an NVPA
The NVPA typically takes about 1.5 hours to complete and is administered individually to your child by our therapy staff. We encourage parents to observe the testing process and view an informative video discussing the connection between vision and learning. Upon completion of the testing, the results are carefully analyzed and then presented at a consultation, scheduled separately with your eye doctor, your child, and you as parents. During this consultation, we will discuss treatment options and provide a detailed written summary report outlining the findings and recommendations. If further evaluation is deemed necessary, the doctor will discuss this with you, along with any associated fees.
Important Policy Regarding NVPA Appointments
Because NVPA testing and consultation appointments require a significant amount of dedicated time and resources from our Joplin, MO eye doctor practice, we greatly appreciate your adherence to our policy regarding appointment scheduling and cancellations. When scheduling, please ensure that the NVPA appointment does not conflict with any other commitments you may have on that day. We require at least 24 hours’ notice if you need to cancel or reschedule your NVPA appointment. This allows us sufficient time to offer the appointment slot to other patients on our waiting list. Please note that there will be a $100 charge for patient no-shows or cancellations made with less than 24 hours’ notice. Any charges incurred due to missed appointments are the patient’s responsibility. We do not accept insurance assignment for NVPA testing, and payment is due on the day of service. While many insurance companies may not fully cover the NVPA and consultation, we can assist you with the necessary paperwork for potential reimbursement. To cancel or reschedule an NVPA appointment, or if you have extraordinary circumstances concerning your appointment, please contact our front desk receptionist as soon as possible.
Addressing Learning-Related Vision Problems
Many parents understandably ask, “Does Coleman Vision treat learning disabilities or dyslexia?” While we are eye doctors in Joplin, MO and not learning disability specialists, we do conduct thorough evaluations of the visual system because visual issues can often significantly impact a child’s ability to learn effectively. For instance, visual problems can contribute to difficulties in reading (such as losing place, skipping words, experiencing blurriness, headaches, or eye strain), writing (struggling with coloring or staying within lines), and even sports performance. It’s important to remember that even if a child has 20/20 eyesight, underlying visual problems can still hinder their learning potential. Our comprehensive exams and NVPA are designed to identify these often-overlooked visual factors that can play a crucial role in a child’s learning journey.
If you are seeking a dedicated and experienced eye doctor in Joplin, MO for your child’s vision care, contact Coleman Vision today. We are committed to providing comprehensive and compassionate eye care for children of all ages, helping them achieve their full visual potential and succeed in all areas of their lives.
