InfantSEE: Free Vision Screening for Infants

In 2006, I took my 12 month old son for vision screening.  My husband, despite a childhood of good pediatric health care, is one of the adults who wasn't diagnosed for lazy eye until after the age of treatment.  Though lazy eye is easily treated in young children, it poses the threat of complete vision loss before age 45 in those who go untreated.

Jimmy Carter challenged the American Optometric Society to provide greater emphasis on early vision screening after two of his grandchildren (despite good pediatric care and good fiscal resources) had undiagnosed childhood conditions.

In response, the AOP began InfantSEE, which offers free vision screening for infants between 6 and 12 months of age.  Volunteer optometrists screen for conditions like lazy eye, strabismus, glaucoma, significant refractive errors (far-sightedness, near-sightedness, and astigmatism), and retinal blastoma.

This free visit can be a fun time for infant and parent (see Heather's write-up at Rookie Moms) involving puppets, bells, rattles, and lights.

At the InfantSEE web site you can find a local provider for a free vision screening appointment.  13 out of 14 infants screened have no serious problems and don't need further eye exams until ages 3 and 5.

Through InfantSEE optometrists are trying to improve the state of vision care in the United States so that every infant can enjoy normal vision.

Comments

[Amy]

Such an excellent program and I am sure they will really appreciate you helping to promote it!

[Kristi]

This is the first I've heard of this anywhere, my pediatrician never mentioned it and if it was in any of the "first year" books I owned I totally overlooked it because I only had time to use them as 'emergency' references. :) Thanks so much for mentioning this!

[Julie]

I happened to see an advertisement about this program in a parenting magazine while I was pregnant and cut it out. It was really easy to find a doctor who participates in the program. There were a few right in our town. I took my now 15 month old when he was 7 months and am so glad I did. It was a worthwhile experience all around.

[Ann]

I hadn't heard of this program until after our daughter had seen a ophthalmologist at 9 and 12 months and been diagnosed with strabismus (crossed-eyes), and started looking up information on infant vision resources. She now wears glasses. It's such a huge thing to be able to diagnose and treat vision problems quickly, and the treatments are often eye patches or glasses, which are not so difficult as far as medical treatments go (though getting a baby to leave glasses on is a trick in and of itself). Though we never used it, I'm a big fan of this program.

That said, the vision screening is not always as fun as its made out to be in the promotional materials for InfantSEE. I think our daughter found the lights shining in her dilated eyes much more upsetting than her other well-baby check-ups.

[Ann]

I hadn't heard of this program until after our daughter had seen a ophthalmologist at 9 and 12 months and been diagnosed with strabismus (crossed-eyes), and started looking up information on infant vision resources. She now wears glasses. It's such a huge thing to be able to diagnose and treat vision problems quickly, and the treatments are often eye patches or glasses, which are not so difficult as far as medical treatments go (though getting a baby to leave glasses on is a trick in and of itself). Though we never used it, I'm a big fan of this program.

That said, the vision screening is not always as fun as its made out to be in the promotional materials for InfantSEE. I think our daughter found the lights shining in her dilated eyes much more upsetting than her other well-baby check-ups.

[RookieMom Heather]

I think this is such a great program, I'm glad to see you talking about it. And it's a fun outing to boot.

[Peggy]

This is a great resource. My son has worn glasses since he was 12 months old, although I had to really convince the doctors that he could not see what a typical child did. Unfortunately, there are not many doctors in my area participating. Thanks for letting parents know about this program, it would have been nice to have around when my son was a baby!

[Vivian]

I just scheduled my baby's appointment this morning. I had not heard of this before hand. Thanks for the great post.

[Talking Books Librarian]

This is a great program. I took part in it with my infant son. I also blogged about InfantSee back on March 31 - check it out at http://talkingbookslibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/03/infantsee-helping-infants-to-establish.html

[Robin]

A friend told me about this when our kids (now 3) were infants. The exam was not fun (my daughter screamed through most of it), but the information was very valuable. We live in a small town (5,000) and have optometrists here who participate, so it's easy to find one. I am going to make an appointment for my 7 month old soon as well.