By Katie Johnson, author of ‘Red Flags for Elementary Teachers’ and Kathy Lambert, King County councilmember, both former public school teachers

Did you know schools do not test near vision? Because of this, 25 percent of our primary school children who cannot read adequately go undetected. Worse, these children cannot tell you that they can’t see, or that they see things in a blur, or that words and pictures move around on the page, because that is their normal. They have no idea that it is not normal.

Schools test for distance vision using the big wall chart with rows of letters that has been used for generations.  The goal of reading this chart is to see one-inch high letters at a distance of 20 feet. Most children do fine on this test. They have 20/20 vision, and can see 20 feet away.

But that says nothing about reading.  One in four of those children with 20/20 vision will have trouble when they read. Distance vision doesn’t tell anything about how a child might see letters and words while reading a book or a laptop at 6 to 15 inches away.

We are failing our children and this failure impacts many of them for a lifetime. We see it in the dropout rate, in the numbers of smart kids with low grades, and in those children who struggle in the juvenile justice system. In a three-year King County study, 80 percent of the children in our juvenile justice facility did not see properly.

Do most parents take children to the pediatrician and the dentist before they start school just to see if there might be any problems? Yes, most parents do.

Do most parents take children to the eye doctor before they go to school just to see if there might be any problems? No, not as many do.

It has been estimated that 80 percent of what children take in from their environment comes through their vision. So proper vision is important and also complicated; it is essential that parents and teachers know that children’s eyes are working well when the time comes for them to learn to read.

Reading is what you do with your eyes to interpret the squiggly marks on paper at a distance of 6 to 15 inches; more and more it involves a screen of some sort, also at close distance.  Reading signs and other materials at 20 feet away is essential when a child is learning to drive, 10 years later, but not something needed for reading at age 6.

When a child enters school, another vision screening should be mandated as well as the one for distance and done at the same time.  This one is for near vision, to find out how well the eyes work together when they are focused on letters and print, monitoring how well they see quarter-inch-high letters in a book.

Teachers especially, and parents, need to know if their children’s eyes can move smoothly along a line of print, or not; how well their eyes can focus, and sustain a focus, on print; and if their vision blurs or doubles the words as they try to read.

Children should be tested for both near and far distance vision at school. Only three states mandate this vision screening, and Washington is not one of them.  All children need to be screened the same way, so their teachers can know who the 25 percent are who may need more help.

We are failing our children.  Twenty-five percent is too many children who have to struggle to read.  Ask your pediatrician or your school nurse or your teacher what they are doing about it.  Be sure your child has the benefit of truly being prepared for school and life.