A child can have 20/20 acuity, no signs of eye disease, and a clean bill of health from their pediatrician — and still have clinically significant visual dysfunction affecting their reading, attention, and learning.

In this episode, behavioral optometrist Dr. Justin Chelette explains why: pediatric vision screenings are designed to detect medical pathology, not evaluate functional visual skills like binocular coordination, accommodative efficiency, oculomotor control, or visual processing.

Dr. Chelette covers what those screenings do and don't assess, the parent-reported signs that often signal a missed functional vision issue, and why so many struggling children fall through the cracks of a system that keeps telling them nothing is wrong.

If your child is working hard but falling behind, this episode offers a framework for asking better questions.