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Question: My daughter,  who just became a teenager, recently began complaining of seeing double when she reads.  When we  brought  her to  you,  you informed  me  that  she  has  had difficulty  reading since she was very young!  Please tell  other people  why  this  was not detected in school  or  pediatric  eye tests!  Also explain what the treatment is, what it can do for a child and what the consequences are of not detecting it.
Answer:   It is not the school's or pediatrician's responsibility to  determine if your child has adequate vision!  A  pediatrician has enough  to do without also trying to be an eye  doctor.   The school eye screening,  as I have explained before,  is  not  and cannot be a substitute for a thorough eye examination. An initial eye examination, an my office, takes an hour! Not only can't the school  spend that kind of time on each child but no one there is trained  as an optometrist!   The school eye test is  to  detect children who basically cannot see the blackboard and little more! Please do not rely on a lack of complaints from  your  children. Children  accept the world the way they see it!  It is very  rare that  a  child realizes  that he or she is not  seeing  the  way everyone else does. If  they have seen the way they do since they were young they simply accept it! Eye coordination problems can have a very severe effect on a child's development. In many cases a child with an eye coordination problem appears to be a slow reader or slow learner. If your child is so diagnosed and has not had a thorough Optometric examination, DO IT NOW! Eye coordination problems may also appear as a lack of interest in reading or in sports since it can make both tiresome and frustrating for a child. Some few children manage to achieve in spite of eye coordination problems. Because most do not, you owe it to your child to see to it that each and every one of them has a thorough eye examination by an Optometric Doctor, before entering kindergarten. The treatment, eye exercise, is a permanent cure. The consequences of not detecting this problem can be a wasted life!