Foresight

Assistance League of Diablo Valley in partnership with Prevent Blindness of Northern California, screen over 1,600, three to five year olds for vision problems. Members also partner with the Child Health and Disability Prevention Program, a division of Children's Medical Services of California, to screen four and five year olds for hearing difficulties. This is a free service for children attending licensed day care centers and preschools in the Walnut Creek, Lafayette and Danville CA areas.

Approximately five percent of children between the ages of three and five years have a vision problem. The most crucial is amblyopia or "lazy eye". Lazy eye is a condition in which a child becomes use to seeing with only one eye due to a problem with the other eye. Unless detected and treated early, vision in the unused eye may fail to develop normally.

Because a child does not realize how he/she SHOULD see, and frequently there is no outward physical appearance causing the parent to recognize "lazy eye", the condition may go undetected. Preschool vision screenings, done by chapter members, trained and certified by Prevent Blindness of Northern California's nursing staff; can detect an eye problem. Once a possible problem is detected, the child is referred for a complete eye examination. This program saves some children from permanent decreased vision in an eye.

Similarly, a child may not realize he/she does not hear properly, but undetected hearing loss significantly hinders proper speech and social development. It can affect all aspects of learning.