Sisters children to have eyes checked

Children in Sisters will be having their eyes checked on Wednesday, April 17, at the Sisters Elementary School.

All second and fourth graders, as well as children referred by teachers or staff, will be checked, according to Julie Bibler, screening program coordinator of the National Children's Vision Foundation.

"We test for distance and near acuity," said Bibler. These test vision at both a 20-foot distance, and 14 inches away.

"Some children may be fine at distance, and still have a near acuity challenge. We also test for hyperopia (farsightedness), and depth perception. We test for tracking (the ability to track a line of text across the page)," said Bibler.

Bibler and her cadre of volunteers will test for fusion, which is the ability for the eyes to bring the picture from each eye together.

"Some kids will see two of one thing, but the brain knows there should be only one, so it will 'suppress' the information from one of the eyes," Bibler said.

"When the brain shuts off one eye, that can be permanent, so we want to catch that early," she added.

They will also check for convergence, the ability to bring something from two feet out right to the end of your nose without losing it.

"This checks for double vision up close," Bibler said.

The need for this type of testing is great, said Bibler. In working with the Bend/La-Pine School District, about 300 kids were referred to a professional out of the 1,700 examined.

"The national statistic is anywhere from 15 to 20 percent. We are running at 19 percent," said Bibler.

Poor vision can have disastrous consequences.

"Eighty percent of the juvenile delinquents nationally in the justice system have vision challenges. If we can find those kids early, and change that, we will drop the numbers of kids who can't be successful in school," said Bibler.

But even more important to Bibler is what this means for the children.

"I was at a school right before spring break and rechecking a third grader (who had failed his distance acuity test the first time). I give them two chances to be successful at the tests. His mom came to pick him up and said 'I just picked up his glasses.'

"He put on the glasses and he goes 'WOW! Cool!' He looked outside and just zoned out," said Bibler.

"He was going to be able to see things he hadn't ever seen or hadn't seen in a while. He was just floating, and that is so exciting...these kids who can see so much better. It is so worth it."

Several years ago Bibler tested a boy who it turned out had 20/20 acuity (vision).

"We picked him up with tracking and convergence issues. This is important because acuity is a piece, but it is not all of it," said Bibler.

Since he had 20/20 vision, the boy's mother was not sure she wanted him worked on at the lab, but when Bibler did the tracking test, the boy's eyes began to redden and weep.

The mother said, "What have you done?"

"I told her it wasn't acuity, but tracking," said Bibler.

The boy then asked Bibler, "You mean I am not stupid?"

"No, this is because your eyes are not working for you," Bibler replied. "This fifth grader thought he was stupid.

"If you go in with that kind of self concept, knowing all the other changes going on at that age...you are looking at a kid who could drop out or not be successful," she said.

The National Children's Vision Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Bend, Oregon. It provides vision screening in both public and private schools, as well as juvenile detention centers.

NCVF also coordinates financial aid programs and provides some financial aid to children in need.

The tests, the New York State Screening battery, are coordinated and performed by volunteers.

For information, or to volunteer, call Nancy Dempsey at 549-8981.