How can I tell if my child has vision problems?

Medically reviewed by Alastair Lockwood on 08 March 2021

Strong, healthy vision is an important part of a child’s learning and development. Reading, writing, copying work from the board, using computers and participating in sports are all vital tasks requiring stable visual skills. Young children will have to often perform these tasks on a daily basis in the classroom and during play which demands their visual ability to increase as they grow.

What age should I get my child's eyes tested?

Your child’s eyes can be tested regularly from the moment they’re born as a number of tests can be carried out to check for any vision problems in babies and children.

Children often struggle for a long time with a problem without telling an adult and may hesitate to raise an issue. They may also not be able to recognise symptoms. The first step to maintaining your child’s eye care health is creating an open path of dialogue where they can feel confident enough to tell you when something is wrong.

Following that, there are also many symptoms that parents can look out for that may signal abnormalities in a child’s eye and vision.

6 signs that may suggest a child has vision problems:

1. Difficulty reading - they may read slower than their peers, lose their place whilst reading, hold books closer to their face, make numerous mistakes whilst reading text, skip words, or perhaps say them in the wrong order.
2. Continuously squinting to see things - They may avoid reading, particularly when writing is far away (for example, on a white board). Or they may try to see out of the corners of their eyes or tilt their head to help focus an object.
3. White or greyish white colour in the pupil - This can sometimes be a sign of cataracts, corneal ulcer, retinoblastoma (eye cancer in children) or uveitis. This will often affect your child’s visual clarity.
4. Eyes that are misaligned, i.e., they turn outwards, looked crossed or don't focus together – Crossed or misaligned eyes are also known as strabismus (misaligned eyes). If allowed to persist, the child may learn to ignore the information from the misaligned eye leading to amblyopia (lazy eye). This will affect the child’s visual acuity, particularly as the distance between objects and viewpoints change, for example when doing sports and tracking a flying object such as a ball or looking from the chalk board to the paper.
5. Eyes that flutter quickly from side to side or up and down (nystagmus) - This may be associated with a reduced child’s hand-eye coordination, and they may have difficulty writing or playing sports. They will also have trouble keeping their eyes on one particular target or moving from one object to another or moving their eyes along a page to read writing.
6. Eyes that are consistently watery, excrete puss, feel itchy or look red - These are common symptoms for eye infections which are caused by irritating substances entering the eye. You may notice that they rub their eyes frequently to relieve itchiness and irritation.
7. Eyes that are sensitive to light - light sensitivity could be a sign of many conditions including cataracts and epilepsy. They may also frequently report that they have a headache.

There's no doubt the best way to check your child's eye health is by having regular eye exams and check-ups. This gives an eye doctor the opportunity to complete a comprehensive eyexamination, then detect and treat a refractive error or any eye conditions and eye problems they spot.

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