A screening sorts children into pass and refer. It does not diagnose, prescribe or measure everything an optometrist would. The most common failure in school screening programmes is a referral letter worded so vaguely that families either…
A screening sorts children into pass and refer. It does not diagnose, prescribe or measure everything an optometrist would. The most common failure in school screening programmes is a referral letter worded so vaguely that families either panic or ignore it. Ours states what was tested, what result triggered the referral, and what to ask the eye care provider for.
Mandated grade levels and re-screen intervals are set by state education or health code, not federally, so a district operating across a state line runs two different schedules. We work to your state's requirement and will tell you where your current practice differs from it - which happens more often than districts expect, usually because a schedule was set years ago and the code moved.
A screening programme referring almost nobody is usually testing badly, not blessed with unusually healthy children. One referring very large numbers is generating noise, alarming families and burning goodwill. We report your referral rate by grade so you can see where you sit, and we would rather explain an uncomfortable number than quietly adjust criteria to produce a flattering one.
We work by classroom rotation, roughly 20 to 30 children an hour for vision and slightly fewer for hearing, with the quietest available room for audiometry. Testing during a fire drill or next to the cafeteria at lunch produces referrals that are about the room, not the child. Give us the bell schedule and we will build around it.
Primary regulations and standards referenced above. Where a standard is published commercially it is named in full rather than linked to a copy.