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The Aboriginal Preschool Vision Screening Initiative:
A Clear Vision, A Healthy Start
The Aboriginal Preschool Vision Screening Initiative supports early intervention and treatment of Aboriginal children for common vision conditions such as crossed eyes, lazy eye, and refractive error. This initiative is part of a recent, larger strategy to provide universal hearing, dental and vision screening to every child in British Columbia under the age of six.
| The Canadian Paediatric Society recently (April 2009) released a position statement on vision screening in infants, children and youth. Click here to find out more. |
Announced by BC Premier Gordon Campbell in March 2005, the Pre-school Vision Screening Initiative supports early childhood development through:
- universal vision screening for amblyopia, strabismus and refractive errors;
- increased coverage for prescription eyeglasses for children from low-income and income-assisted families, and
- public health checks at regional health authority child care centres for children aged 6, 12, and 18 months.
(See the press release: BC Expands Early Childhood Health Screening, 3 March 2005).
Aboriginal Preschool Vision Screening ensures that:
- Parents and early childhood educators in Aboriginal communities receive important information about children’s eye health and vision;
- Aboriginal children receive early intervention and treatment.
The BC government provided funds to the National Collaborating Centre for Aborginal Health in 2006 in support of early childhood vision screening for Aboriginal preschool children in B.C. For a fact sheet on our preschool visual screening initiative, please click here.
In 2007-2008, the NCCAH conducted critical baseline research on Aboriginal children's eye health and vision needs including a needs assessment for vision screening in BC First Nations communities, a literature review on mentoring of lay vision screeners, and an environmental scan of Aboriginal eye health research, programs, and services in BC, Canada, and internationally.
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Children from the community of Gitwangak.
Wilp Si Wilaxsinsxw Hl Simgigyet School
Photo by Dr. Barry Lester, Smithers B.C.
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Working in partnership with the First Nations Health Council and the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport's Provincial Vision Screening Committee, the NCCAH developed a training manual for Aboriginal screeners. In November 2008, the NCCAH co-hosted a vision screening train-the-trainer workshop in Vancouver using this manual. Led by Dr. Barry Lester, an optometrist from Northern BC, the workshop provided First Nations health workers with hands-on experience using vision screening tools including the SureSight Autorefractor, Randot, and HOTV chart. Another training session is planned for June 2009.
In the year to come, the NCCAH will also be working with the First Nations Health Council, the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport and UBC's Human Early Learning Partnership on the evaluation of vision screening data of Aboriginal children screened by all Health Authorities in the public school system.
Did You know?
One in five preschool-aged children has a vision disorder. This presents a challenge to long-term health and to early education, as over 80 per cent of a child's learning is based on vision.
Yet poor vision and other eye ailments can be easily overlooked and can lead to children being mistakenly labelled as learning disabled. Parents, for their part, do not always recognize the warning signs of vision impairment. These can be very subtle. They can include a lack of concentration, performing below potential, headaches or burning and itchy eyes, avoiding activities that require near-distance work, and holding objects too close.
If vision disorders – notably refractive errors, amblyopia, strabismus– are left untreated, children may experience serious long-term visual impairment and will not be able to realize their full learning potential. If detected early, many of these conditions can be corrected by an eye doctor (an optometrist or ophthalmologist) with corrective lenses or vision therapy. Click here to view information from the B.C. Association of Optometrists.
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