Eye Health for Children with Autism

How do your eyes bring in visual information?

Your eyeball is like a camera and your brain is the camera operator. The more skilled the cameraperson, the better the pictures. But the pictures won’t turn out well if the cameraperson doesn’t know how to correctly use the camera.

Visual information is received in the form of light that is sent to the back of the eye. The light is changed into signals that the brain can read. The brain then analyzes what it sees and sends the information to many parts of the body that affect language, movement, balance and more.

But this process doesn’t always work this smoothly, especially for children with autism.

Bright Eye Care and Vision Development says the diagnosis of autism is based on three specific areas: social interaction, communication and repetitive/stereotyped behaviors.

According to a study from the Autism Society of America, sometimes visual problems are missed because the behaviors resulting from visual problems may be considered part of the symptoms of autism, such as lack of attention, speech problems, or lack of eye contact or shading of the eyes.

Children need more than just a visual test provided by a school. School eye charts only measure for clearness and sharpness of eyesight. An eye exam from Dr. Tavel can identify much more.

As this month of autism awareness comes to a close, take care of your child’s health by getting them in for an annual eye exam.