Visual acuity of school entrants

A study of 4239 school entrants showed that 3.4% had less than normal or near normal distant vision and 0.8% had near vision impairment. The group requiring specialist advice and care, that is, those with 6/12 or worse vision in either eye were further investigated. The effectiveness of pre-school examinations in the early detection of vision defects could thus be assessed. The results indicated that two-thirds had not been detected during the pre-school period. Where diagnosed, the great majority were between 3 and 5 years of age. In general, attendance at child health clinics for developmental surveillance was not a significant factor. Given that maturation has an effect, the difficulty seems to be the lack of suitable techniques rather than expertise. This suggests that the whole area of vision testing during the pre-school periods needs to be reviewed.