Grant Wood AEA discontinues grade-level vision screenings and Child Check

CEDAR RAPIDS – Grant Wood AEA will not provide grade-level vision screenings in the 2011-12 school year.

“We were moving to this a year ago,” Communications Supervisor George Held said.

The agency has reduced its vision screenings in the past two school years. The 2009-10 school year was the first year the agency didn't screen kindergarten through sixth-grade students.

The decision was made after a review of other state AEAs found that Grant Wood was the only agency still doing multi-grade-level vision screenings.

“We were an outlier with all other AEAs,” Held said.

Budget concerns are the main reason for the change. Held said the agency looked for ways to reduce spending in the spring. A study found that there were groups in the area, such as the Lions Club, willing to help with vision screenings.

“We found there are some school nurses who already do screenings, so there was some redundancy,” Held said. “It wasn't a critical service.”

The agency will continue grade-level hearing screenings next school year.

Grant Wood AEA provided vision screening for third grade students during the 2010-11 school year. Sherry Schroeder, one of the agency's two vision screeners, referred 20 percent of the students she screened to an eye doctor – one in every five students.

“Of the paperwork I got back – not all parents send back paperwork – the students I referred got glasses,” said Schroeder, who took a voluntary layoff from the agency at the end of the 2010-11 school year.

In some cases, if students already had glasses, the vision screening led to changes in their prescriptions.

Schroeder said her referral rate was higher this year because students weren't being screened at earlier grade levels.

Iowa is one of only 10 states that does not require a vision screening or examination for school-age children. Of the remaining 40, 37 states require a vision screening and three have mandated eye exams.

“Part of the challenge is parents are not aware their children have a vision problem because they are not taught how to see,” said Jeanne Burmeister, executive director of Prevent Blindness Iowa.

According to Prevent Blindness Iowa, nearly 80 percent of all learning during a child's first 12 years is through vision, but 86 percent of children won't receive a comprehensive eye exam prior to entering school.

Prevent Blindness Iowa works with communities state-wide providing sight-saving programs for children, adults and older citizens. The organization screened more than 22,000 children for possible vision problem last year.

As area education agencies have dropped grade-level vision screenings for referral-only programs, Prevent Blindness Iowa has worked with the Iowa School Nurse Organization to train school nurses in the vision screening process to make up for the loss.

Burmeister wasn't aware that Grant Wood was eliminating grade-level vision screenings.

“In your area of the state, schools have been blessed with AEA,” Burmeister said.

Grant Wood AEA has also discontinued its Child Check program.

Child Check is a free screening of a child's vision, hearing, pre-academic skills, speech, language, fine and gross motor skills for children ages 3 and 4. Child Check observes children that may have behavioral, social, or emotional concerns, which could have an impact on their ability to learn from others.

“Grant Wood AEA was the only agency that did Child Check,” Held said.

Prior to the program's discontinuation, Child Check was recommended for students living in Grant Wood's seven-county area prior to beginning kindergarten. Held said parents who have concerns regarding their child's development can contact the agency for a screening.