Unique Eye Care for Your Loved Ones

Over 14% of American students aged 3 to 21 receive special education services. If you’re the parent of a child with special needs, you know nothing fully prepares you for this unique journey. No books or websites can provide you with all the answers you seek.

That’s especially true when it comes to your child’s eye care. You and your child will both benefit from having an eye care team with experience serving and caring for special needs children.

Daniel & Davis Optometry provides specific eye exams, eyewear, and vision therapy designed for children with special needs. Please contact us today and let us help your child receive eye care that will truly benefit them.

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Different Approaches for Different Needs

Children with special needs sometimes also have underlying vision problems. However, these vision problems can be challenging to recognize because the behaviors they cause can be misattributed to their syndrome or diagnosis. Our eye doctors have the experience and knowledge to diagnose vision problems in children with different special needs.

Special needs can typically be divided into 4 categories:

Developmental: Down syndrome, autism, dyslexia, and processing disorders.
Behavioral & Emotional: ADHD, anxiety disorders, or oppositional defiant disorder.
Physical: Muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, chronic asthma, and epilepsy.
Sensory Impaired: Blindness and visual impairments, deafness or hearing-impairments.

Special Needs Eye Care Explained

Are Children with Special Needs More Likely to Have Vision Problems?

Children with special needs are much more likely to experience vision problems than others. These problems include:

Nearsightedness (myopia)
Farsightedness (hyperopia)
Strabismus
Accommodative insufficiency
Lazy eye (amblyopia)
Eye teaming and tracking challenges
Binocular coordination (stereo vision) issues
Depth perception problems
Visual information-processing difficulties

How Can Eye Care Help Children with Special Needs?

Vision problems often create additional challenges for children with special needs. An undiagnosed vision problem may affect your child’s behavior, interfere with their reading and learning performance, and impact their ability to perform everyday tasks.

Working with eye doctors who understand your child’s specific needs can remove unnecessary social and academic obstacles from their path. Our help can make it easier for your child to reach their full potential.

Eye Exams for Children with Special Needs

Children with special needs tend to have higher optical prescriptions and may have reduced visual acuity or clarity. Eye exams are vital for monitoring their ocular health and uncovering the vision issues your child may face.

Our eye doctors can also assess your child’s visual skills by performing a developmental optometry exam. This exam provides valuable insight about how best to support your child as they continue to study, play, and grow. Children with reduced vision or underdeveloped visual skills may benefit from corrective eyewear or a personalized vision therapy program.

Eyeglasses for Children with Special Needs

Our practice carries a variety of eyeglasses designed specifically for children with special needs. For example, the faces and noses of children with Down syndrome often form a distinct shape that standard optical frames may not fit properly. Our custom-fit eyeglasses offer adjusted bridges and modified temples to ensure a more secure and comfortable fit.

We also offer frame designs made with lightweight and flexible materials. These features help prevent your children’s glasses from becoming damaged during activities. Parents of special needs children who require glasses can also choose from numerous optical lenses to promote optimal vision and comfort.

Vision Therapy for Children with Special Needs

Vision therapy uses custom exercises to promote the improvement of key visual skills. Our eye doctors use a scientific approach to help your child interpret visual data with greater ease and accuracy. Vision therapy involves more than just simple eye exercises: it improves brain-eye communication and the efficiency of your child’s visual system.

Up to 1 in 4 children in the US struggle with reading and learning difficulties because of undiagnosed vision problems. Since undiagnosed vision issues are even more prevalent among children with special needs, vision therapy can be an effective way to reduce the challenges they face in school and other learning environments.

Help Your Child Thrive

Children with special needs can face unique challenges, but getting high-quality eye care shouldn’t be one of them. Please reach out to us now and learn more about how our eye doctors can help your family.

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Our Location in Carlsbad

Where to Find Us?

Our practice is located on El Camino Real, just between the Carlsbad Village Drive stop for the number 309 bus and the Bayshire Carlsbad assisted living facility.