ALIEF EYEGLASS PROGRAM

The Sharpstown Rotary Alief ISD Eyeglass Project was begun during the 1991-92 Rotary Year, in Jeff Novy’s term as Club President. It was brought to the club’s attention that there were a number of middle school students in the Alief ISD whose schoolwork was suffering due to poor vision. But, due to their family circumstances, these students did not receive proper eye exams or eyeglass prescriptions.

Vision plays a vital role in the reading process. First of all, children must have crisp, sharp eyesight in order to see the print clearly. School vision screenings routinely check children's sharpness of vision at distance--measured by the 20/20 line on the eye chart--and refer children for glasses if they have blurry far-away vision and can't see the board from the back of the room. Unfortunately, this is all school vision screenings are designed to check, and children's vision involves so much more.

About ten percent of school-aged children have eye-teaming problems. In addition, children with eye teaming problems can be highly distractible, finding it difficult to concentrate and remain on task when the strain on their eyes is so great. (In fact, many of these children are often misdiagnosed with attention deficit disorder.)

Left undiagnosed and untreated, eye-teaming problems can appear to be a learning disability or dyslexia. They are not. Eye teaming disorders are visual problems, not language-based reading dysfunctions. The symptoms, however, are similar and only a complete eye exam by a behavioral optometrist trained to diagnose and treat eye teaming problems can determine for certain if vision is the basis of the child's struggle to read.

The Rotary Club of Sharpstown initially teamed with Dr. Ira Diskin who did the eye exams and eyeglasses. Dr. Diskin sold his practice to Dr.Robert Haws, an optometrist, who became a Sharpstown Rotarian and he took over the exams and eyeglasses. Dr. Haws closed his practice and Charles Watson, a club member, arranged for Texas Eye Institute and Optics West to provide eye exams by qualified ophthalmologists and glasses manufactured by a trained optician to students. Since its inception, this program has provided exams and eyeglasses to over 200 students, and the Rotary Club has donated 0ver $15,000 to cover the cost of the materials in manufacturing the glasses required. Both the Texas Eye Institute and Optics West donate their time and professional staff to this program.