Parents are often surprised that their children are unable to understand that an inability to make out material on the blackboard or in a book is abnormal. After all, wouldn't you expect a child to tell you when they're having trouble seeing? So is it surprising that vision problems can go undetected for extended periods of time?

With around 25% of North American schoolchildren having vision problems to some degree it is true that vision-challenged children may not be aware that the world around them should not be blurred.

Many problems could be explained and dealt with if a correct diagnosis can be made and the vision problem corrected - but what if a valid diagnosis is not arrived at? It is hardly surprising that, along with a failure to diagnose vision problems, many misdiagnoses can occur.

Often children with vision problems get labeled as merely lazy. This injustice will certainly do little for the child's self-esteem and scholastic progress. With the speed of teaching accelerating, it is possible for only months of delay to negatively affect a child's future prospects.

What if the diagnosis is further delayed?

Well, the child may react to vision problems because it is difficult to concentrate, particularly close up to the page. The lack of concentration may well lead to the child being unable to participate in class discussions, answer questions or to learn required material. It is not only book and blackboard usage that will suffer but all subjects involving sight - Language, Math, Social Studies, and so on. Pretty much the whole curriculum will be affected.

Based on these manifestations, it is likely that the child may be diagnosed as learning disabled. Further, compensating for the perceived labeling as "stupid," students will often misbehave, clown around in class or exhibit other behaviors that can lead to a misdiagnosis of ADD or ADHD.

Parents should watch for indications of poor eyesight in order to give their kids the optimum opportunities at school.

Doctors now recommend taking children to have their vision checked at ages one, three and five. Further checkups should be made every year or two and especially when certain symptoms present themselves. These symptoms may include:

- squinting when reading (near or far)
- holding reading material extremely close to the face (under eight inches)
- Favoring one eye when doing visual tasks
- Dyslexic behavior - misplacing letters or numbers
- Poor handwriting
- Headaches, excessive blinking, burning/itching eyes
- Losing place or having to use a finger to keep place
- Using the head to scan pages rather than using the eyes
- Poor hand-eye coordination
- Writing uphill or downhill
- Misalignment of columns of numbers