This manual was developed to provide Aboriginal vision screeners with the skills needed to screen preschool children in order to identify eye conditions such as strabismus (turned eye), amblyopia (lazy eye) and refractive erros (decreased vision).

This report provides a summary of best practices in preschool vision screening programs and training models with an analysis of how mentoring can contribute to successful, sustainable preschool vision screening for Aboriginal peoples in BC.

The purpose of this report is to examine the vision needs of Aboriginal (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) children on and off reserve throughout British Columbia under the age of six. Children are the foundation of our society and with 246,000 children under the age of six in British Columbia, their future health is determined by services they access when they are young. Inequalities in health care services and socio-economic status may hinder their development and negatively impact them throughout their lives.

The Aboriginal-specific Preschool Visual Screening (PVS) initiative is a subset of a larger integrated cross-ministry strategy to provide universal hearing, dental, and vision screening to every child in the province under the age of six. To complement the larger initiative, BCI will administer funds over three years to develop innovative, culturally safe, holistic approaches to vision screening for BC Aboriginal preschool children.

The Aboriginal preschool vision screening initiative is a subset of a larger integrated cross-ministry strategy to provide universal hearing, dental, and vision screening to every child in the province under the age of six. The preschool vision screening program seeks to optimize critical periods of early childhood development through universal vision screening for amblyopia (lazy eye), strabismus (crossed eye), and refractive error, increased coverage for prescription eyeglasses for children from low-income and income-assisted families, and public health checks at regional health authority child care centres for children aged 6, 12, and 18 months.

Normal vision is developed with the regular and equal use of the eyes in the first few years of life. Amblyopia or "lazy eye" is a reduction in the visual acuity of an eye as a result of disuse or misuse during this critical period of early childhood developement (Paysse & Coats, 2005).