The College provides the latest news, research, advice and guidance on examining children, and all the key optical topics. The College actively campaigns on improving Children’s eye health across the UK.
All children to have a full sight test before they start school, between the ages of three and four.
We are calling on national health and care service providers to:
We are asking all optometrists, dispensing opticians, contact lens opticians and other optical professionals who work with children to:
Don't know that school vision screening are not the same as full sight tests
Don’t consider children’s sight tests as very important health checks
Feel it’s only necessary to take children for sight tests if issues are flagged
The College of Optometrists, Association of British Dispensing Opticians and the OSA partner in new campaign to raise awareness of the importance of children’s eye tests and better signposting for parents to children’s eye care professionals on the High Street.
New research shows that only 30% of kids always wear sunglasses on sunny days and more than a third of parents believe a hat or cap offers the same protection as sunglasses.
ABDO, Boots Opticians, the College and Specsavers have all come together to deliver a public awareness campaign on the importance of children receiving a full sight test before they start school, around three to four years old.
Clinical files: Is a 6-year-old child too young for contact lenses?
Online CPD courses for optometrists on the topic of children's eye care.
This recorded webinar by Professor Bruce Evans FCOptom will help you diagnose binocular vision anomalies and identify those that can be treated by an optometrist, those that need referral or do not require treatment.
This recorded webinar delivered by Suzanne Fraser MCOptom and Cathy Williams will help you understand how to assess a child with learning difficulties and the process of taking a relevant history.
This recorded keynote lecture by Dr Rowan Candy MCOptom focused on young children who are at risk for strabismus and amblyopia. Dr Candy reviews the refractive and ocular motor development of infants and pre-schoolers in the context of clinical assessment and care.
Professor Ed Mallen MCOptom discusses the findings from the part College-funded Northern Ireland Childhood Errors of Refraction (NICER) Study and how it can help you talk to children at risk of myopia and their parents.
In this recorded lecture, Professor Bruce Evans FCOptom highlights the role of practitioners in providing eye care for children and aims to improve members' confidence in managing these cases whilst stressing the need for practitioners to be aware of their limitations.
Eye health issues that are making the news - Spring 2023.
This online CPD course follows an optometrist while they examine four children of differing ages being managed in practice for a variety of binocular vision anomalies.
The Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning has written to NHS England urging them to commission a School Eye Care Service for children with special needs.
Podcast: College clinical adviser Daniel Hardiman-McCartney FCOptom MBE talks to optometrist Bhavin Shah MCOptom MBABO FBCLA about managing patients with dyslexia.
Clinical Files: Is it acceptable to turn away a child for a sight test if you don't feel you have the experience or right equipment?
The clinical figures that count - Winter 2023