AKIN, a 4-year-old boy, was struggling in school to read numbers and alphabets. The parents assume that he must be dull. His sibling, in the same school, reads very well. Despite home coaching, Akin’s grade was falling behind, and his self-esteem was suffering.
Over the news, the parents heard that poor academic performance is one possible indicator of poor vision in a child. They brought the child in for an eye check, and a pair of glasses was prescribed. That child became the best in mathematics.
Unfortunately, avoidance behaviours, low self-esteem, and discontent can arise from vision problems if they are not treated. For example, the child may talk throughout class because she is asking a classmate what the teacher is writing on the board. She might be reluctant to speak up or read aloud.
A child with visual impairments might act irritably, which could lead to disturbances at school. Since they have never had good eyesight, these children are unable to communicate that they have vision issues.
It is sometimes assumed that a child who has impaired vision is impulsive or distracted since he finds it difficult to focus on any subject for an extended period of time.
The clumsiness, lack of interest in academics, or squinting are not examined to determine whether the cause is a vision problem.
Inability to comprehend visual information can lead to frustration, low self-esteem, and avoidance behaviours. Important processes, including identity formation, emotional regulation, and self-confidence, might be hampered by untreated visual problems.
In a talk titled ‘Vision Begins Early: Building Statewide Systems for Paediatric Eye Care’ at the farewell event honouring Professor AderonkeBaiyeroju’s 70th birthday and retirement, Professor Ademola-Popoola said that a child’s eye may be normal despite having extremely severe visual impairments.
Ademola-Popoola, head of the Ophthalmology department at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, explained that a child is unlikely to complain of a vision problem. Someone needs to find it because vision contributes about 83 per cent to learning in early life.
‘But if the child is not seeing, eating will become problematic. Expressive language and other learning skills, including walking, are delayed. Phonation is by watching an adult whom the child likes to speak to. So when vision has a problem, many things will be delayed,’ she added.
Many things may indicate that a child is having difficulties due to a vision problem. According to her, some indications of this include holding a book too near to one’s face, being distracted, isolating oneself, having poor handwriting, and engaging in abnormal behaviours like persistent frowning.
When they discover how hard school is and that their grades are worse than other classmates, some children become agitated or act out in anger. In fact, visual problems could even lead to an inaccurate ADD or ADHD diagnosis.
Recent research reveals a startling connection between vision impairment and mental health issues, particularly in children. A study reported that children with visual impairments are at a higher risk for mental health problems, including depression and anxiety.
Unfortunately, poor vision cuts across children of all socioeconomic classes. Also, from a child born premature to the older child, all can be affected by poor vision. And there are consequences when it happens.
In addition to what a child can see, vision abnormalities such as strabismus, or eye misalignment, can also impact how the child interacts with the outside world and how they see themselves. In addition to physical blindness, these illnesses often result in mental difficulties that hinder socialisation, academic performance, and self-worth.
Furthermore, almost 90 per cent of blind people do not go to school. Furthermore, we will be sustaining the cycle of poverty based only on one child’s visual impairment because someone needs to be there to mentor and care for them while they are not in school.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that child blindness contributes to one-third of the total impact of blindness in the world, and so they make it important.
Ademola-Popoola added, ‘Eight out of 10 individuals who have been blind since childhood never had an eye examination to prevent needless blindness. Moreover, approximately 80 per cent of the causes of their blindness are completely avoidable.’
She listed the causes of preventable blindness in children, including cataracts, glaucoma, trauma, and retinopathy of prematurity.
‘Children who are born prematurely are eligible for screening. Between four and eight out of every hundred will become blind if nothing is done to treat the condition within the first two months of life. When we examined paediatric cataracts, we found that about 38 per cent of the cataracts we operate on in children result from trauma,’ she said.
Prof. Ademola-Popoola stated that vision screening to catch vision problems and eye diseases should leave no child behind, from premature babies, immunization and well-baby clinics, and regular schools to schools for children with special needs.
She added, ‘Everyone should be aware of this problem and trained to perform simple actions that can help get a child to the hospital quickly. Our studies show that in over 85 per cent of cases, the family already knew there was a problem.
‘Childhood blindness steals both sight and future. Prevention saves them both. It costs less to preserve a child’s sight than to rebuild a lost future.’
No doubt, there are many cases where children have been referred to all kinds of doctors, from neurologists to psychiatrists, when all they needed was vision care. Sometimes, these are subtle signs for glasses or other vision care!