Federal legislation is already pending to fund medical treatment for children that fail vision screenings. The problem is that too many children don’t receive vision screenings at all. Leading experts in children’s vision all agree that early vision screening is important. Even a federal government task force on vision screening has concluded that we are not adequately addressing our nation’s dilemma for preventing blindness in our children. A recent study showed that every dollar spent screening and treating amblyopia, returns $22 to the Gross National Product. Understandably, increasing the number of children that receive vision screenings is a stated goal of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Healthy People 2010 Initiative and Project Universal Pre-School Vision Screening. But how do we meet this goal? While manual screenings, photoscreenings, and full eye examinations all have a role to play in detecting amblyopia, it is obvious these methods are simply not getting the job done. Too many children are needlessly suffering permanent vision loss because they did not have their vision checked before age 9.

It is imperative that we protect our nation’s schoolchildren from blindness by instituting a nationwide vision screening program. How do we establish a nationwide vision screening program that works? Let’s look at the 8 steps necessary to vision screen every schoolchild in the United States.

STEP 1 - METHOD (Technique or product used to perform screening.)

In order to successfully screen our nation’s schoolchildren for vision disorders, the first requirement is a method to evaluate their vision. This method could be as simple as an eye chart or as detailed as a full eye examination. The method used must evaluate the performance of how the entire vision system works together; including the eye, optic nerve, and vision center of the brain.

STEP 2 - VALIDATION (Scientific validation of method from real-world, clinical studies.)

Regardless of the method that is chosen to screen for vision disorders, the method must be accurate and reliable - not just in the controlled setting of a laboratory, but in real-world situations, such as a classroom.

STEP 3 - DISTRIBUTION (Bringing the method to ALL our nation’s children.)

Once a validated method for screening children’s vision has been chosen, there must be an efficient way to distribute this method and make it widely available to all our nation’s schoolchildren.

STEP 4 - ADMINISTRATION (Performing the method on ALL our nation’s children.)

The screening must be administered in a consistent and accurate way regardless of when or where it is performed.

STEP 5 - RESULTS (Analyze raw data and compare to standardized pass / fail criteria.)

After the screening has been performed, the results need to be analyzed and compared to a standardized pass / fail criteria in order to determine if further evaluation is required.

STEP 6 - DATA STORAGE (Store and retrieve data for; record keeping, future comparisons, and further analysis.)

The screening outcomes and result interpretation then need to be stored for two different reasons. First, immediate record keeping is necessary to make certain all children are screened and there are no redundant vision screenings performed. Secondly, data storage allows for comparisons with other schools and epidemiological analysis.

STEP 7 - NOTIFICATION (Inform parents, teachers, and doctors of results and initiate referral, if needed.)

Once results have been obtained and compared to the pre-determined pass / fail criteria, notification of parents, schoolteachers, and referral physicians is necessary to make certain appropriate care is rendered to those children in need.

STEP 8 - EPIDEMIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS (Measures success of vision screening program and provides valuable scientific data for public health policy decisions.)

Epidemiological data analysis allows the success of the vision screening program to be measured and provides valuable scientific data for public health policy decisions. Such data is crucial for any vision screening program, in order to provide justification for continued public support and funding.