Who should be screened and why?
Children, ages 3-5, are at an exciting time in their lives. Constantly experiencing new things, they use their five senses - taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing - to learn about the world around them. It’s also a time of critical development as they enter school.

Some preschoolers will learn to succeed in the classroom. Others, though, may have a difficult time because of poor eyesight or poor hearing, two physical problems that hinder learning. Studies show that 85 percent of all learning comes through the eyes and ears. Often, however, vision and hearing problems are not recognizable even by the most caring parents.

The mission of the Sight & Hearing Association is to detect vision and hearing problems before the age of 6, while many problems are still treatable.

How is screening done?
Using fun and easy games specifically designed for preschool children, screeners from the Sight & Hearing Association will complete the following five tests:
1. Visual inspection of the eyes and ears - Checks eyes and ears for healthy appearance.
2. Visual acuity or clearness of vision - Measures how well each eye sees.
3. Cross-cover and Hirschberg light dot test - Verifies that the eyes are straight and work together.
4. Pure tone audiometry - Measures hearing sensitivity for sounds that are important for understanding speech.
5. Tympanometry - Measures the function of the middle ear (ear drum and middle ear bones).

Who does the screening?
Since 1959, professionally trained teams from the Sight & Hearing Association have screened the vision and hearing of children in the Twin Cities’ 11-county metro area. Last year, SHA screened 15,000 children in day-care center, nursery school and Head Start programs.

If you would like more information about SHA's preschool screening program,
contact Bernice Burgy, at 651/645-2546, ext. 16.