Clear vision: new Frayser eye care project helping kids learn

A new eye care program is making a big impact in the Frayser community. Literacy Mid-South, the Southern College of Optometry (SCO) and the Achievement School District (ASD) are teaming up to improve children’s vision and literacy with a new pilot program in Frayser that is offering comprehensive eye care and glasses to roughly 1,800 ASD students.
 
“Literacy Mid-South is a convener of organizations that are committed to improving third-grade reading proficiencies,” says Jeff Rhodin, Literacy Mid-South Director of Collaborative Action.
 
Currently only 36 percent of students in Shelby County reading at or above grade level in third grade, and poor vision is obviously a key barrier to literacy, with 80 percent of learning done visually.
 
“Forty percent of the kids we’ve already seen have gotten glasses, and 21 percent are getting vision tracking therapy for some sort of eye health reasons,” says Rhodin. “One fifth grader who was struggling in school and had been for a long time got a prescription [for glasses] that was so intense it had to be sent off to a specific lab to make the lenses.”
 
Frayser was targeted for the initiative for two reasons: 1) 2013 state assessments indicate reading levels are far below county standards, with fewer than one in ten students at Frayser Achievement Elementary School being proficient in reading, and 2) 34 percent of students screened by SCO in Frayser last year failed basic vision screenings, and few received follow-up care or glasses. 
 
Literacy Mid-South facilitated the project through the Seeding Success Third-Grade Reading Collaborative Action Network, of which SCO is a member. SCO doctors and student interns visit schools daily to conduct eye exams in a complete optometrist’s office set-up onsite. Students prescribed glasses are be able to select their frames, and SCO delivers the glasses once completed.
 
Achievement Schools participating in the project this year include Corning Achievement Elementary School, Frayser Achievement Elementary School, Georgian Hills Achievement Elementary School, Whitney Achievement Elementary School and Westside Achievement Middle School.
 
Rhodin expects the program to spread on a larger scale throughout the local community next year.
 
By Michael Waddell