Research
Results from A Pediatric Vision Screening and Its Ability to Predict Academic Performance
The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of pediatric vision screening to predict academic performance of children in New York City of USA.
This was a retrospective, longitudinal cohort study conducted in a sample of 1 365 children attending grades K – 6 (5 to 12 years).
The phi coefficient was used to measure the impact of pediatric vision screening on children academic performance.
The King Devick test had an overall phi coefficient of 0.47, and hyperopia test had a phi coefficient of 0.31.
Of 39 children examined, 25 received optometric intervention, 19 received spectacle corrections, 5 received spectacle corrections and vision therapy while 1 received vision therapy without correction.
Among 21 of the 25 (84%) children, there was at least a 20 percentage-point increase in the child’s achievement test percentile rank.
1 child who was uncorrected 4 D bilateral hyperopia had percentile rank increased from 9% in 1996-1997 to 75% in 1998-1999.
14 of the 21 children who showed improvement had failed the King Devick in 1996-1997 and passed it in 2 years later.
3 of 4 children who did not show improvement failed the King Devick in 1996-1997, and still failed in 1998-1999.
The study demonstrated the importance of optometric intervention in enhancing effective learning among children.
This article was identified as a reference for a VII-commissioned systematic review on the Impact of URE on Children.