District 1 can now ensure all students can see to learn.

The Lexington County School District 1 Educational Foundation recently awarded a grant to the district’s Student Services division for the purchase of a vision screener.

Each year, school nurses perform numerous student vision screenings in an effort to identify visual defects that may negatively affect a student’s ability to learn. Nurses can screen most students using the traditional visual acuity test.

Nurses, however, cannot use the traditional method to evaluate students who are too young to follow directions or recognize their letters and shapes, students with cognitive or developmental delays, or students who have problems processing speech or language.

This new vision screener, with a total cost of $7,150, will enable district nurses to screen all students and refer students with potential concerns to an optometrist or ophthalmologist by merely printing the screening results certificate.

“The vision screener donated by the Lexington 1 Educational Foundation will potentially assist more than 1,100 students in Lexington District 1,” Nursing Director Amy A. Wood, RN, says. “We will use it to screen our pre-K students, our students with cognitive or developmental delays, and students who have limited language or speech abilities.”

The handheld, portable device is non-invasive, and assesses the three most common vision issues, including farsightedness, nearsightedness and astigmatism or blurred vision, as well as eye alignment, unequal pupil size and refractive power.

“We are extremely grateful to the leadership of the Lexington 1 Educational Foundation in making our children’s eye health such a high priority,” Chief Student Services Officer Jeff Caldwell added. “Our school nurses can quickly and more easily identify potential vision problems for many of our students, at no cost to the families, so that these students with concerns can get the care needed for vision improvement.”