Missouri to require vision exams for all first-time schoolchildren this year

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Enrolling children for school for the first time will require an additional step this coming school year.

State legislation goes into effect July 1 requiring a comprehensive eye examination for every child enrolling in kindergarten or first grade for the first time. Parents will have until Jan. 1 to have their child tested for the 2008-2009 school year.

"I think it's a good idea to test them before they get to school," said Robert S. Felker, optometrist for Heartland Eyecare. "Most school screenings check for nearsightedness. Of course, nearsighted kids usually do pretty good in school because they can see up close." He said the new requirement is for an eye exam that also checks to see if the children are "farsighted or have astigmatism, and those are the kids that don't tend to do well in school."

While the regular eye screenings in Missouri's public schools will continue, Felker said the new required eye exams will "complement or supplement the screenings by checking the health of the eyes. We check to make sure the eyes are working well as a team, which helps improve comprehension. Eighty percent of learning is visual, so you really need an efficient visual system to learn easily."