DOE
S
BY THE time he was eight, we were
resigned to the fact our Paul was
different. He was always off by himself
reading. As one of the neighbors aptly
put it, "Paul's a loner, isn't he?"
Even his reading was different "Paul, do you
have to read with your nose on the page?" I would
ask. And at other times when his habit of blinking
became too pronounced, I would order him to put
down the book and rest his eyes.
His clumsiness became a joke around the house.
But I didn't smile over his dawdling, poor posture,
toeing-in, and his habit of watching the ground
when he walked.
Paul was born after a long and difficult labor.
Later the doctor told me that his nervous system
had suffered because of the delivery. "You have
a very tense little baby," he said, "but in time,
he'll grow out of It."
During his first four years, I had been very
conscious of Paul's tenseness. This was unfortu
nate because we never thoroughly investigated
possible physical causes behind Paul's problems.
- Then, one October afternoon when Paul was in
third grade, he brought home an arithmetic paper.'
All the examples were checked as incorrect, and
Paul had an "F" as his grade. I began to scold
Paul as I looked at the examples. Then I stopped.
Every one of his answers was correct!
I asked the teacher for an explanation. "Paul
will have to stop being careless," she said. "Every
example was copied incorrectly from the board."
If Paul is careless, he deserves the "F," I
thought, but then I remembered something from
my own youth. I was shopping downtown with my
mother when she looked across the street and
Buid, "There's a good movie playing at the
Strand."
"Oh, really, what is it?" I asked.
"Can't you see for yourself?" asked mother.
I couldn't even see the big letters that spelled
STRAND, let alone the name on the marquee!
And that's how we learned I was nearsighted
when I was 13.
YOUR
CHILD
HAVE
GOOD
VISION?
By ANTOINETTE BOSCO
I turned to Paul anxiously. "Paul, do you have
any difficulty reading what's on the blackboard?"
"Sure, Mom. I have to take my chances guess
ing at what's there."
I called our family doctor. He told me to see an
ophthalmologist immediately.
(An ophthalmologist, by the way, is a physician
who specializes in the treatment of diseases and
abnormalities of the eye. An optometrist is a spe
cialist in diagnosing vision defects such as near
sightedness and farsightedness; he is trained to
fit glasses and recognize eye diseases which re
quire medical attention. An optician makes glass
es from prescriptions sent him from ophthalm
ologists and optometrists.
The ophthalmologist told me that Paul, having
inherited nearsightedness from both parental
sides, was extremely nearsighted and had severe -astigmatism.
Paul had to concentrate so hard to
keep his eyes focused, it consumed most of his
energy. "When he gets his first pair of glasses,
Mrs. Boseo, Paul is going to Bee the world for the
first time," the doctor said. "He'll be a different
little boy."
Now, two years later, the doctor's wonderful
words have proved prophetic. Paul is not the same
boy at all. Within a few weeks after he began
wearing glasses, his tensions subsided. He began
to speed up in schoolwork. His nose stopped touch
ing the book when he read. His posture improved,
and he stopped looking at the ground when walk
ing. As a cause for special happiness, we watched
him begin to play with the other boys and develop
a love for sports.
Unfortunately, there are many children suf
fering from unrecognized vision difficulties,
just as Paul did. And there are ways in which
parents can tell whether their preschool child has
poor vision. Since my own experience, I have
learned that you should have your young child's
eyes checked if you answer yes to some of the
following questions:
Does your child bring objects or books close to
his eyes?
Does he stumble over small objects?
Does he tend to overreach or underreach?
Does he get carsick?
Does he blink frequently?
Does he rub his eyes often?
Does he squint?
Are his eyes extremely sensitive to light?.
Does he frown frequently?
Does he complain of headaches? .
Does he avoid visual activities?
Fortunately, most vision defects in children
can be corrected with glasses. This year, Paul's
teacher didn't tell me about a quiet boy with an
"emotional" problem. Instead, she said, "You have
a very talented little boy, Mrs. Bosco. You should
be very proud of him."
A pair of glasses made the difference.
Beore you answer, read this story about a boy's "emotional" problem and its" unexpected solution
COVER:
H' infer wouldn't be the same without some
fearless skier pitting his form against
a majestic slope. Jim Pond taught one de
scending Mt. Mansfield in Stowe, Vermont.
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