Children Do Not Read at Twenty Feet Away: The Silent Sabotage of Children in the Classroom Will Be the Focus November 8 at UWBothell Symposium
In any Washington elementary classroom, research shows 25 percent of children may have undiagnosed vision issues that interfere with their success in school, especially in the most critical areas: reading and math.
The Silent Problem: No screening for children’s near vision is required by Washington law; schools are only required to find out if children have “20/20” vision, the ability to see at a distance of 20 feet, using a test developed during the Civil War in 1863. Children in today’s elementary schools spend about 85% of their time reading books and laptops at a distance of six to twelve inches. Teachers and parents rarely have any information at all about the vision abilities children need to perform well with schoolwork.
Change Is Coming: A panel of experts from all over Washington -- optometrists, M.D.s, educators from K-12 and higher education, lawmakers and judges, graduate students investigating the issue, a published parent advocate, and representatives of underserved populations -- will come together to raise a red flag on this long-ignored and well-documented children’s health issue.
The Solution: Decades ago, when the daughter of President Lyndon Baines Johnson was failing in school, she received appropriate intervention for vision issues that changed her ability to function in the classroom and in life. Luci Baines Johnson concluded:
"If good education is the key to a strong country, then good vision is the key to a good education.”
Let’s Fix This: Come to the Symposium on Vision and Learning
· Saturday, November 8, 2014 9:00-4:00
· Location: University of Washington Bothell Discovery Hall
To learn more and register, please visit www.educatingyoungeyes.xyz.
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