Students Focus On Vision

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Article Date: 14 May 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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"Vision is important in childhood learning, and vision care is critical to the academic development of Ohio's children," said Karla Zadnik, OD, PhD, Associate Dean of The Ohio State University College of Optometry.

With that in mind local eye doctors throughout Ohio present "The Adventures of Rhet and Tina" to classrooms of kindergarten through second grade students in their community. Using the puppets Rhet and Tina and hands-on activities, the doctor teaches the importance of vision health and eye safety. "The Adventures of Rhet and Tina" is part of the Realeyes Classroom Initiative.

"The Case of Vinny Vision" designed for students in third through fifth grade is a lesson using optical illusions to teach eye health and safety and the importance of vision care. "Vision: Impossible" is a spoof on modern spy movies created for middle school students and focuses on eye health and safety and the importance of vision care.

Realeyes connects classrooms with eye doctors in the community. Now in its seventh year, Realeyes has been presented to over 300,000 students in schools throughout Ohio. The Ohio Optometric Association, through a grant from the Ohio Department of Health Save Our Sight fund, created three age-appropriate, standardized classroom presentations. An online curriculum is available for high school students at http://www.ooa.org/realeyes. All curricula are offered at no charge to schools. Funds are generated through donations collected at license and registration renewal by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

"The Realeyes Education Initiative was created to educate children and their parents about the importance of vision care and eye safety," said Dr. Zadnik.

"Eighty percent of what a child learns is through vision, yet research shows one in four children has an undetected eye disorder. A vision problem that could easily be corrected, if left undetected can be devastating with effects that last a lifetime," added Dr. Zadnik.

Ohio Optometric Association
http://www.ooa.org

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