Kildare woman's book could boost children's school progress
Nichola Kennedy and her book, See The Change.
PROBABLY no family have not struggled at some stage with a child not doing as well at school as expected.
Concerned reports from teachers about inattention and lack of focus. Outbursts of frustration while attempting homework. Daily anxieties about going to school. What if the problem has a too often overlooked cause? In a word, vision.
Kilcullen optometrist Nichola Kennedy has written a book on how enhancing their vision can unlock a child's potential.
shares her more than two decades of experience in assessing if hidden vision problems are the reasons for children's struggles with learning, behaviour and confidence. It offers practical tips to help children with attention and other problems. It shows why a child can focus on screens but not on reading. How poor eye coordination and visual fatigue affect learning. Also, is a chance for parents to consider a behavioural optometric evaluation and optometric vision therapy.
"In recent years I trained in neurodevelopment and behavioural optometry," said Nichola, who established her optician business in Kilcullen in 2006. This is a new element to her operation, as Brainsight.
"Only three of us are certified in this in the Republic. For various reasons, a lot of people can't get to us, so I thought a book could be a starting point for them."
When children in school don't do as well as they should, parents usually jump onto a lot of other things before they rule out if there's an eye problem or not. Nichola believes her short book could spark the idea of having that checked.
"The eye test that children get in schools really looks for physical things, lazy eyes, eyes that are turning, that might need surgery. They're not looking for vision problems that could be affecting a child's ability to achieve."
When she sees a child for developmental assessment, they've usually been referred by an educational psychologist after having gone through a number of other investigations.
"Most of these patients do have this vision problem, but there are definitely many more out there who don't realise they have it."
The issue can be addressed by either appropriate glasses or eye exercises, or both.
"Sometimes all it takes is a very small prescription, sometimes just very simple exercises. It's like physiotherapy for the eyes — I can do the exercises with the children and then they do them at home."
The other Irish optometrists qualified in this are based in Clifden and Bray. Spread thinly, but Nichola notes that previously patients had to go to the UK and even the US for assessment and treatment.
Her curiosity in the area was triggered while she was still a student.
"Over the years, including in my work with special needs children, Special Olympics, and autistic patients, I have seen the impact this has not only on the children themselves, it affects the whole family dynamic. It gives me goosebumps when I think how it affects a home and every family member, when a child has learning difficulties."
Already available on Kindle, the paperback version of launches on Amazon on 18 June.
