Our view:	Sterling site needs to be done right

web1_5.1-Events-Children-in-Poverty.jpg

Their view: A little kindness can go a long way

<p>While most of us are anxiously waiting for spring to arrive, many parents are already beginning to prepare for fall &#8211; anticipating their children&#8217;s first day of kindergarten.</p><p>Kindergarten registrations are in full swing within all local school districts, helping parents and pre-school children plan for the coming year. And Northeast Sight Services is proud to be part of these preparations, knowing how important it is for our local children to enter school ready and able to learn.</p><p>Many people don&#8217;t know about the good work that we do in this area (one of the many reasons we changed our name from the Greater Wilkes-Barre Association for the Blind). As a key component to our prevention program, which focuses on finding undetected, yet treatable, vision conditions in children and adults, Northeast Sight Services provides free, age-appropriate vision screenings to all children in our local community under the age of 6 years old. We screen nearly 5,000 children each year.</p><p>At every single kindergarten registration, we encounter a story about a child who has been screened and no one has realized there was a problem. We may not think about it, but it makes sense that children with poor vision do not necessarily know how well they should be seeing, and so do not express that they are experiencing difficulties. Their vision may blur, they may see double or have good vision in only one eye. And because detection is difficult by simple observation, most parents are also unaware.</p><p>And why do we do this? Because 80 percent of what a child learns before age 12 is comprised of visual cues. Undetected vision problems in children may manifest as signs of learning disabilities: frustration, inability to pay attention or follow instructions, frequently missed words or reversal of words, or inability to maintain place while reading. It is also because over 65 percent of children under the age of 5 have never been to an eye care professional, even though it is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics that a child&#8217;s eyes be screened for problems at least four times before they enter school.</p><p>Most children we screen just need a simple pair of glasses to fix their problems. But there are sometimes more serious conditions that we are able to detect.</p><p>As in the case of Tyler, who was a typical 5-year-old when he was screened by our organization at a learning center in Dallas. At first, both his teachers and staff thought he was being uncooperative when his left eye was covered, and he would just shrug his shoulders when asked to tell us what he saw.</p><p>After several appointments with specialists and a MRI scan, it was determined that Tyler&#8217;s loss of vision in his right eye was caused by a tumor on his optic nerve. Luckily, the tumor was safely removed. While he did lose sight in his right eye, it was a very good possibility that he would have lost sight in both eyes and could have had additional health issues if the tumor was not detected as early as it was.</p><p>We feel so fortunate that children all over Northeastern Pennsylvania enter this milestone year with all the tools to help them succeed &#8211; and we are honored to play such an important role in that process.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_New-Oped-photo.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_New-Oped-photo.jpg</photo0><caption0></caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Sara Gorgone Peperno</p><p>Guest Columnist</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Sara Gorgone Peperno is president and CEO of Northeast Sight Services. Her column appears the third Sunday of the month.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Their view: Early childhood vision screenings vital to good health