Recognizing the important relationship between vision and the learning process, the 68th Texas legislature passed the Vision and Hearing Screening Program, Health and Safety Code, Chapter 36. One purpose of the Act is to identify children who need professional vision and hearing examinations. As part of comprehensive preschool and school health programming, vision and hearing screening aim to detect problems that could limit a child's educational opportunities.

The Department of State Health Services assists with vision screening programs for preschool- and school-age children. Workshops are held around the state to train interested individuals to perform basic vision screening.

There is no charge for training. Please contact your regional coordinator for more information.

Vision screening programs help determine if a child’s vision is normal by answering a key question: Does the child need additional assessment? Since about 80 percent of learning is visual, identifying a vision problem early can significantly impact a child’s life. 

While it may not detect every vision-related issue, screening is a simple, nondiagnostic process that indicates whether a child may have a vision problem. A properly trained person can identify children who need referral to their primary care provider for further testing, evaluation, and treatment. 

By implementing appropriate screening programs to identify children with vision problems, your school or medical office can connect them to the support they need for success. Aim to develop a program that ensures those who do not pass the vision screening are referred for further evaluation.

1. Identification of a possible problem. 

2. Referral to a primary care provider for diagnostic evaluation. 

3. Educational consideration and recommendations to maximize learning potential. 

4. Tracking and follow-up of all referrals for evaluation of the program’s effectiveness.

The goal of this program is to equip each vision screener with the knowledge and skills necessary to make appropriate referrals for evaluation by a medical professional. To achieve this, vision screeners will be expected to meet the following objectives:

1. Recognize signs and symptoms associated with visual problems.
2. Select and use materials to create an appropriate screening environment.
3. Determine by the age of the child which of the three screening charts should be selected.
4. Train the child to respond accurately to indicated target objects (symbols) on the selected chart.
5. Pretest to determine whether training for distance acuity screening was effective and chart selection was appropriate to the child's developmental level.
6. Demonstrate proper screening and record-keeping procedures for distance acuity, Hirschberg corneal light reflex, and cover and uncover tests.
7. Determine the pass/fail, rescreen, and referral status of a child based on established criteria for two age groups.
8. Demonstrate knowledge of appropriate follow-up procedures for children who fail the screen.
9. Demonstrate knowledge of appropriate procedures for making statistical reports to the Department of State Health Services.

Refer to the Vision Screening Manual for more information related to the procedure and technique for performing screening.