VERO BEACH — The Learning Alliance and the Education Foundation of Indian River County are pleased to announce their partnership in a program to benefit students in the School District of Indian River County. “Vision for Reading” will screen 1600 children for vision problems as part of their participation in literacy programs of The Learning Alliance.
The Learning Alliance partners with the School District of Indian River County during the school year to provide teacher training and literacy programs for children in grades K-3. Over 800 children have been served by The Learning Alliance (TLA) with programs in all 13 elementary schools in the county.
“Vision for Reading” addresses a critical problem in our schools. Experts estimate that vision problems are prevalent in 25% of all school children in the United States. Most of us assume schools are addressing the vision problems of children by performing vision screenings. However, traditional screening methods fail to identify 60-90% of vision problems in young children. Research has shown that, of children in the 7 to 15 years old age group, only 10% of the children who needed glasses actually had them.
The National Parent Teacher Association estimates that more that 10 million children in this country suffer from vision problems that may contribute to poor academic performance. The Learning Alliance and the Education Foundation realized that many children who struggled with reading were unable to properly see.
Barbara Hammond, executive director of The Learning Alliance remarks, “You have to be able to see the page to read the page. This program will ensure our children can see the page, and can take advantage of our literacy programs.”
The Education Foundation and The Learning Alliance have worked together to bring a Florida Vision Quest (FVQ) mobile eye examination bus to 8 elementary schools participating in TLA literacy programs. Students will be screened with a PediaVision screener, a state-of-the-art, hand-held device that can determine a child’s refractive error in ¾ second.
For those who fail, qualified students will be provided comprehensive vision exams on the FVQ mobile unit free of charge. Each child will choose from a wide range of trendy new frames that will be pre-adjusted during the visit. The eyeglasses will be manufactured and sent back to school for dispensing within one week.
The screenings are made possible through the generosity of the John’s Island Foundation, whose $25,000 grant enabled the Education Foundation to purchase the PediaVision screeners.
“This partnership will enable the School District to make improvements to one of the root causes of our education challenges today – enabling children to read and then study. We thank the John’s Island Foundation for facilitating our purchase of the screeners and would like to discuss with any individuals or other organizations who would like to help us extend this program to more schools,” said Adrian Smith, president of the Education Foundation of Indian River County.
To learn more about The Learning Alliance visit www.thelearningalliance.org.
To learn more about the Education Foundation visit www.edfoundationirc.org, call 772-564-0034 or email director@edfoundationirc.org.
