Tips For Teachers

MyEyesMyLife launches eye health literacy campaigns among teachers in N-5 elementary students
Remind teachers about general eye health surveillance during class periods:

That their N-5 students may not be able to express their nearsightedness perfectly in words, so
Watch for students who may be changing seats to come closer and closer to the board
Look for kids who may be squinting during class
Look for kids who may have their heads tilted such that they are looking from only one part of their
eyes
Students who rub their eyes repeatedly
Those who hold reading materials too close to them
Students whose participation in class has decreased over the past few months

Students whose academic performance has dropped suddenly
Before having students tested for learning delays, just download a Snellen chart from the internet and have them read from 10 feet away
Often advancing uncorrected childhood myopia results in academic loss which is confused as a learning disability
When you suspect a student has some uncorrected myopia related issues, do not ask your student to tell their parents.

Appreciate the vital role of teachers in being the first point of surveillance for undiagnosed pediatric myopia
This role has even more salience in countries with low access to preventative care and no routine annual “well” visits
Just because a student has had annual checkup and vision screening as part of the checkup, doesn’t mean myopia cannot emerge suddenly
Remember little kids can show signs of myopia within a year and in-between their annual “well” visits
Every elementary school should ideally have a pediatric ophthalmologist who accepts a variety of health insurances (including Medicare)
Contact MyEyesMyLife for a list of ophthalmologists who have agreed to participate in our platform and see a child without insurance
If the teacher sees that the student doesn’t have news glasses in a few weeks, contact the family again and again.

As a teacher, you “see” everything! Your watchful eyes can spot struggling kids before any govt. vision
screening.