You get the kids new notebooks, new clothes and maybe even a physical, but eye screening is the one back to school exam that most families overlook. It could be the most critical.
And some of the signs of vision problems are the same as ADHD, leading to misdiagnosis. And for now, most states and school districts don't require extensive vision screening.
Jessica Darcy, a mom of three kids, says they all need physicals and dental exams, but none were required to get their eyes checked.
"I'm not talking about a nurse exam because that misses a huge percentage of eye problems with children. I'm talking about a real eye exam," says Jessica.
Doctors estimate that 70 percent to 80 percent of new learning, from the age of 9 months to college age, is visually input. Ohio does require some sort of vision and hearing exam before kids enter kindergarten, but the ordinance doesn't specify how extensive.
Jessica noticed something strange with her daughter's eye when Ella Jane was just 7 days old.
"Ella Jane was born with a congenital cataract," says mom, Jessica Darcy.
At 5, Ella Jane had a major surgery to remove the cataract in her eye.
"I was definitely crushed at first and just knowing it could go either way with her eye health. We could either maintain it, and it could improve, it could grow and we could need major surgery."
"When her eye had healed, we were sitting in the kitchen and she said to me "Mom, you know how when you look at something, there's always that big black polka dot in the middle?" And I said, "No,sweetheart, I don't because that's not normal." And she said, well that's gone."
