I can hear your complaints now, “You’re kidding me, right?  I just found out my baby is deaf and am dealing with all the added appointments and equipment that brings and now you’re asking me to voluntarily add more to my life by finding out whether or not he can see?  You must be crazy!”

Well… yeah, I kind of am.  Chances are, your child can probably see just fine, but it is always nice to know for sure.  You see, there are some syndromes that cause hearing loss that are also associated with vision impairment (for example, Usher Syndrome).   By being proactive NOW, you can head off problems before they become major issues LATER — and that’s always a good attitude to have!  Better yet, I recently learned of a FREE program for infant vision screenings: InfantSEE.

According to their website, “InfantSEE®, a public health program, managed by Optometry’s Charity^TM – The AOA Foundation, is designed to ensure that eye and vision care becomes an integral part of infant wellness care to improve a child’s quality of life. Under this program, AOA optometrists provide a comprehensive eye and vision assessments for infants within the first year of life regardless of a family’s income or access to insurance coverage.”

Find an InfantSEE provider located near you by clicking HERE, and start searching!  I was even able to find one optometrist in my area who specialized in pediatric special needs assessments, and some others who spoke languages other than English to better serve a wide variety of patients.

InfantSEE assessments are available for ALL infants, not just those with hearing loss — so have siblings or other infants in your family tested, too!