Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-23
SCHOOL CHILDREN'S EYESIGHT
NEGLECTED. SURVEY REVEALS
Continued from First Page,)

at distance or nearby-is so strong
In the Young that it overcomes errors OF
refraction Of the farsichted, or hyper
opic type.
while the simple eve tests made with
various sizes of letters. as conducted
in the schools. are of much benefit,
only the children who nave marked
visual defects are discovered; a great
number are found to have normal vision
and are so informed when III reality
they are suffering with latent defects.
Strains Of varying amounts are present
which may become worse as the child
advances in its school course. The M
ciyidual goes out into the commerclai
world much handicapped due 10 the ell
feCtS of visual defects
I'm this investigation the preliminary
simple visual aCuiiy test indicated that
"a pcr cent Of the children had de-
fcctive vision and 66 per cent had nor
NAL vision whereas with the accommo-
dation suspended and thorough cxami-
nations made an extraordinary change
was shown,
The investigation was begun under
Senior Surgeon Taltsferro Clark of the
United states Public Health Service
and was completed under the direction
Of Surgeon Grover A, Kempf The ex-
an,mations Of the children were made
in the school buildings of Washington
by Assistant Surgeon Bernard l.. jar
man and comprised both the simple
visual test made with the test letters
Of varying sizes and also thoroueh
refraction of the eyes OF each chiid
with the accommodation Of the eyes
suspended which disclosed the total
amount OF existing defects.
Examinations Vital.
"The Eyesioht Conservation Council
has repeatedly stressed the Importance
Of thorough eye examinations for school
children" the council said in inter
preting the significance Of the Wash
ingtnn investigation. and While the
vision chart test as conducted IN
schools is recommended as of material
benefit, the council has always eau
toned against the assumption that eyes
are FREE from strain or serious defects
lust because vision may be normal,
THE statement frequently quoted
that approximately II per cent repre-
scntS the amount of defective vision
found among school children in the
United States is very misleading,
Among other important revelations
of this survey was the tendency OF near
siQhtedneSS, or myopia, to increase be-
tween the seventh and twelfth years,
which indicates the necessity for care
ful observation Of the vision Of school
children between these ages to detect
the existence of myopia before the con-
dition advances.
The factor of sex was considered to
determine whether boys or girls are
more prone To visual defects, but no
material difference was found in the
sexes al any age for any type Of rcfrac-
tive error
Cure Costs Little.
Asserting the need for annual eye
examinations by an eye specialist of
all children known to have defective
eyes. the councils report concludes:
Parents and educators throughout
the country should take to heart the
startling condition disclosed by this
thorough and valuable investigation and
see to it that the children under their
care are not contending with uncor-
rected eye defects.
"A larger percentage of the defects
of vision can be effectively detected and
corrected with less expense and less
difficulty than any other kind of physi-
cal defects There Is, therefore, less
excuse for neglect of the eyes.