[Opticians] Near Vision Matters Committee

[Tim Alden]

Near Vision Matters! Committee
by Yvonne Schnellbach, LDO
October 2nd, 2006
 
    The Near Vision Matters Committee was created by fellow 
Opticians concerning the vision screening in grade schools. We believe
testing for near vision should be a requirement. We need all the
Chapters in our state to help on this committee. 
    The Yakima public grade schools rejected my proposal of using 
a near-point card, or a +200 flipper device. They will only do what the
state requires them to do. They lack funding and personnel to conduct
the testing. Parent volunteers could help with the screening process. I
sent 25 letters out in March, to the PTA presidents in our valley,
explaining my proposal and offering to do a short presentation at their
next PTA meeting. As eyecare professionals, we cannot assist in the
screening process in our State. 
    Many children have Hyperopia, or an accomodative dysfunction. 
These children are overlooked and placed in a slower learning group, 
which doesn't help their self-esteem or confidence. Our children deserve
the best screening we can provide, so they can excel. We need to update
this ancient screening process, and make parents aware of the importance
of near testing. 
    We need more volunteers on this committee. We cannot pursue 
this legislatively yet, but we can sure get some parents excited about
this. Hopefully, this will generate more complete eye exams. We will
have a brochure to hand out in the near future.

Questions or suggestions? I'm at yakyvonne at yahoo.com.

Yvonne Schnellbach, LDO
Chairperson, Near Vision Matters Committee
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://thing.com/pipermail/opticians/attachments/20061002/2e699475/attachment.htm