Objectives: To outline the prevalence and disparities of vision problems among school-aged urban minority youth, causal pathways through which vision problems adversely affects academic achievement, and proven or promising approaches for schools to address these problems. Methods: Literature review. Results: More than 20% of school-aged youth have…

This article discusses the importance of providing vision screening services to students who are difficult-to-test and describes strategies for providing such services. Included in the discussion is an overview of various instruments that may be used to test visual acuity, including the Parsons Visual. (Authors/JMK)

The vision screening program has a long and interesting history involving educators, pediatricians, optometrists, and ophthamologists. This historical review of vision screening in the schools includes a discussion of amblyopia and screening of preschool students. (Author/CB)

The results of Minnesota's mandated screening program show the importance of combining health and developmental screening findings and the limitations of focusing on special education-related problems. Mandated, comprehensive health screening programs can be economically and effectively implemented in the public school system. (JD)

This study followed children retrospectively from kindergarten through 12th grade to examine incidence of abnormal school vision screening tests and rates of follow-up by specialists. School vision screening provided first indication of abnormal visual acuity in 76% of the children. Results support the notion that school vision screening is…

Identified barriers that delay seeking professional care following school vision screening. Focus groups of parents, students, teachers, school and community health professionals, and community leaders highlighted several barriers, including lack of community awareness about certain visual problems, high costs of glasses, inconvenient appointment…