Optometric Screening Program for Evaluating Visual Health Anomalies and Effectiveness of Home-Based Vision Therapy among Urban and Rural School Children

A rise in non-strabismic accommodative and vergence dysfunctions has been noticed. The core element of child’s educational experience is the ability to learn through reading. This learning process involves both accommodative and vergence mechanisms, and an imbalance in sensory-motor integration can lead to non-strabismic accommodative and/or binocular vision disorders (NSBVD). Therefore, any abnormalities in the visual system can adversely affect children’s cognitive development and their educational progress. It is commonly seen in school-aged children, particularly high school students who have greater demands on their accommodative and vergence systems.

A significant number of Ocular anomalies are treatable and often preventable. Globally the prevalence of Uncorrected Refractive error, Strabismus, Amblyopia, Anterior and Posterior segment abnormality has been seen increasing hampering their overall development and social life. While diminished visual clarity may be identified during school eye examinations, general binocular dysfunctions, including near vision blurriness, headaches, eye strain, difficulties in comprehension and concentration, or the tendency to reread the same line, are more challenging to detect.

Pediatric vision screening aims at identifying potential visual risk factors that could hinder the growth and development of the eye and visual system in children. Since many ocular issues can be asymptomatic, vision screening plays a vital role in detecting visual disorders in children who do not show any signs of disease or impairment, thus allowing for early diagnosis and treatment, and reducing the potential negative impact of untreated conditions on visual development and educational and social progress.

Vision therapy is a customised therapy provided to improve visual skills specifically in condition such as eye movement disorders, binocular vision problems, and visual processing difficulties. Vision therapy can help improve symptoms of conditions like convergence insufficiency, amblyopia, and strabismus. Vision Therapy helps to enhance visual performance. This study aims to evaluate visual risk factor and will also help to understand ocular anomalies among urban and rural school children