What happens between fun at home and first grade?
We change lives through innovative vision care.
Our education system is reaching for our toddlers who, in the past, spent time playing and acquainting themselves with their environment with their senses, not a Chromebook. They are emphasizing programs like preschool, Head Start, and pre-kindergarten. It sounds wonderful, doesn't it? We can give our child a head start and prepare them for first grade. This typically happens between ages three and five. Are there any consequences? Unless you've found a Montessori school that closely follows the original principles, there are consequences. Montessori has a teaching method tailored to the child's age and development.
We change lives through innovative vision care.
Our education system is reaching for our toddlers who, in the past, spent time playing and acquainting themselves with their environment with their senses, not a Chromebook. They are emphasizing programs like preschool, Head Start, and pre-kindergarten. It sounds wonderful, doesn't it? We can give our child a head start and prepare them for first grade. This typically happens between ages three and five. Are there any consequences? Unless you've found a Montessori school that closely follows the original principles, there are consequences. Montessori has a teaching method tailored to the child's age and development.
WHY????
A kindergartner has just been diagnosed with nearsightedness and an outward eye turn. Maybe it didn't need to happen. Could our school system be overworking our children in early childhood education and pre-kindergarten? Certainly we all want our children to be prepared for school and get a good education. Yet, are these early emergent programs the best method? Not everyone thinks so. Dr. Steve Ingersoll, a leading optometrist in vision and learning, believes that for the betterment of their education and learning, our preschoolers are better off playing outdoors than in our digital indoor classrooms. Preschools may employ inefficient methods, such as introducing concepts above the proper age level and incorporating digital devices, which can harm a child’s vision. The nearsightedness resulted from excessive close work with lessons that are too challenging for her developing visual system. The eye turn came from her eyes pulling back from excessive near work.
A kindergartner has just been diagnosed with nearsightedness and an outward eye turn. Maybe it didn't need to happen. Could our school system be overworking our children in early childhood education and pre-kindergarten? Certainly we all want our children to be prepared for school and get a good education. Yet, are these early emergent programs the best method? Not everyone thinks so. Dr. Steve Ingersoll, a leading optometrist in vision and learning, believes that for the betterment of their education and learning, our preschoolers are better off playing outdoors than in our digital indoor classrooms. Preschools may employ inefficient methods, such as introducing concepts above the proper age level and incorporating digital devices, which can harm a child’s vision. The nearsightedness resulted from excessive close work with lessons that are too challenging for her developing visual system. The eye turn came from her eyes pulling back from excessive near work.
Because the child is bright and has felt challenged by her teacher’s academic expectations, she has put forth extreme effort to perform at this unnaturally high level. She also willingly does the 20 minutes of homework every night, which is based on tasks above her developmental level.
Yes, digital devices are used to occupy toddlers and up, so parents can go about their activities. With the distance he is watching, he needs to focus his eyes at least 8 diopters. The maximum he should focus his eyes is 2.5 diopters. That's like older people having to wear four times the average power of reading glasses.
In the past nearsightedness began in the fourth grade when the schools shifted from learning to read to reading to learn.
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Even so, developmental optometrists found a way to help the children avoid nearsightedness. They applied learning glasses (lens therapy). They collaborated with the Gesell Institute to design the classroom furniture, lighting, and other elements, aiming to minimize impediments and distractions to the vision system.
Scandinavian countries, which perform above the US academically, do not teach reading until a child is visually ready at age seven.
Scandinavian countries, which perform above the US academically, do not teach reading until a child is visually ready at age seven.
The shame in this fact is that the research on which Scandinavia has based its academic policies was done by a US educator, George Spache. He found that those who read before age seven were ahead of their peers in the 4th grade, but those who waited until after age seven were ahead by high school, where reading counts the most.
Our answer to this dilemma is our Two Steps to Academic Relief program. There are two steps:
1. Lens therapy to alleviate the burden on the eyes of reading material above our kids' intellectual level and the overuse of digital devices. See Lens Therapy for more information.
1. Lens therapy to alleviate the burden on the eyes of reading material above our kids' intellectual level and the overuse of digital devices. See Lens Therapy for more information.
2. Home procedures to enhance your child's vision skills that are overburdened by academics above your child's level. Since national education cannot reverse this trend when it comes to your child, our approach is to help you enhance their vision skills. Years ago, Dr. Getman wrote a book to do just that, a method to improve their vision and learning. He wrote How to Develop Your Child's Intelligence*. We provide the book, but more importantly, a step-by-step process to perform and record the routines sequentially.
* Currently, the book is out of print, but we gained permission from the publisher to copy it.
* Currently, the book is out of print, but we gained permission from the publisher to copy it.
Give us a call at 334-2020 and find out if a visually related learning problem exists and have it treated before school starts again.