WASHINGTON—The Academy congratulates the state of Rhode Island for its recent enactment of a new law to ensure young children get a vision screening prior to their entry into kindergarten.  Thanks to the efforts of pediatricians and local ophthalmologists, the state’s new children’s access to vision law requires both vision screening and comprehensive eye examinations. The Academy is pleased that the legislation, which originally mandated examinations exclusively, now includes this language.

“The Academy is thrilled that the law requires all children who fail the screening receive a comprehensive eye exam and appropriate follow-up treatment from an ophthalmologist or an optometrist,” said Catherine G. Cohen, Academy vice president of governmental affairs. “This is a necessary element in any children’s eye care program.” 

Unfortunately, the new law fails to recognize the valuable role trained lay screeners play in identifying vision problems in children – a disappointment to the Academy and the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. These organizations support the use of trained lay screeners for children beginning at the age of three years old and recognize the invaluable and cost-effective resources provided by Prevent Blindness America and other screening organizations in meeting the vision needs of children.

The Academy is eager for Rhode Island’s new vision screening effort to succeed, but urges the legislature to expand the scope of the law to include trained vision screeners in the interest of both good public health policy and sound fiscal policy.

Supporting its call for using lay screeners, the Academy points to preliminary findings of a new National Eye Institute study, which indicate that trained lay screeners perform as well as health professionals in effectively screening preschool children. Expected to be published in final form this week, the Vision in Preschoolers (VIP) Study Phase II, is a multi-phase, multi-center clinical study to evaluate the accuracy of screening tests used to identify preschool-aged children in need of further evaluation for vision disorders.