“Special needs” is a term used to identify people who require assistance due to physical, mental, behavioral, or psychological disabilities. Many conditions such as autism, down syndrome, dyslexia, ADHD, blindness, or cerebral palsy can affect areas of the brain involved with how we see the world. Children who may have these conditions require special care when it comes to their vision.

Eye Care for Special Needs Children

In many cases, vision problems can go unnoticed in children with special needs due to symptoms associated with their condition. If your child is diagnosed with one of these conditions, we recommend visiting an ophthalmologist regularly to routinely check your child’s vision. Without frequent visits, your child’s visual growth and development may be hindered. Our ophthalmologists ensure that your child goes through the right procedures of tests to identify any condition that can potentially affect their vision.

Conditions That Can Affect Vision

It’s important to discuss how these disabilities can affect a child’s vision. We have prepared a summary of each disorder and how it may cause eye disorders in children.

Down Syndrome

Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal disorder. About 6000 babies are born with this syndrome each year & 80% of them suffer from severe clinical conditions of ocular pathology. These conditions include strabismus (cross eyes), nystagmus (shaking of the eyes), blepharitis (inflamed eyelids), eyelid ptosis (eyelid droop), cataracts, blocked tear duct, and keratoconus (thinning of the cornea).

Autism

The visual components of autistic behavior may be a lack of eye contact, turning their head to see, light sensitivity, difficulty with eye-tracking, staring at light or spinning objects, and poor depth perception. Almost 40% percent of children with autism also suffer from strabismus, which is an eye condition better known as crossed eyes.

Dyslexia

Although visual abnormalities are not directly connected with dyslexia, ophthalmologic consultation is necessary for children who fail vision screening tests. Symptoms may include the inability to keep their place while reading, eye fatigue, blurry vision, and a delay in processing visual information.