Eye tests & check-ups

No letters, no right answers. What actually happens when we measure a two-year-old's sight.

Eight fixed points, two teams, one book you already own. What each check looks for, and where the gaps are.

Optician, optometrist, ophthalmologist. Three different jobs, and which one your child actually needs.

A growth chart, an immunisation record, and one page most parents never read. What it says about eyes, and what it leaves to you.

A weighing scale, a growth chart, and a quiet check of the eyes. What a public clinic visit for a toddler actually covers.

A folded letter, a number, and a parent with no idea what it means. Here is the map.

What a tadika can ask, what it usually cannot confirm, and what a real check at four looks like.

One letter is the door into a government eye clinic. Here is what actually helps it move.

Half runs down the cheek, he clamps his eyes shut. Here is what actually works.

Drops, waiting, and more than one person to meet. Here is the day itself, mapped out.

The school vision check runs at preschool, Year 1, Year 6 and Form 3, but the preschool contact only reaches government and government-aided preschools. For some eye problems, Year 1 is already later than ideal.

Grief for one evening, then a clear plan. What the first week after a diagnosis should look like.

What the drops are actually for, how long the blur lasts, and what the afternoon looks like.

He will not sit still and she will not answer. Here is what an eye examination can still measure, and how to make the visit easier.

Why some eye examinations happen while a child is asleep, and what the day actually looks like.