An amblyopia vision screening service has been created at University Valli Opticians with the aim of seeing 1,000 primary school children in Kirklees.
The practice at the University of Huddersfield was raising awareness of children’s eye health in the region through a new research study.
Dr Sarah Waugh and Emma Martindale from the University’s Centre for Vision across the Life Span were conducting research to find out how well children of different ages see small letters, how well they distinguish between closely spaced letters like those within a word and how well these measures of vision relate to reading speed.
Children at Lepton’s Church of England Primary School in Fenay Bridge were the first to take part in the vision screening programme, which Dr Waugh said the children enjoyed.
‘The results of this project will be invaluable in helping us to understand the relationship between the development of key visual and reading skills,’ she said.
The tests carried out will fulfil the normal NHS vision screening protocol for children aged four to five years old, but will also test further aspects of vision and reading on a wider age range of children from ages three to 11.
Researchers hoped to identify how skills for these tests develop with age and the impact on learning to read, with potential to expand into tests for hearing and sound discrimination.