What hypermetropia is, how it affects vision, how to support pupils with hypermetropia.
Hypermetropia or longsight is usually characterised by being able to see better at long distance than short.
For clear and comfortable vision, light must be focused sharply on to the back of the retina at the back of the eye.
A hypermetropic eye has difficulty focusing the light from an object at short distance. Instead, the light focuses to a sharp point in behind the retina. The vision is then blurred.
If the object is taken further away from the eye, the image will become clearer.
At times, hypermetropia develops alongside or as a result of other eye conditions.
These include:
- glaucoma
- squint
- amblyopia
How hypermetropia affects vision
A child who is long sighted:
- will find it easier to see objects in the distance: for example, they may be able to see clearly when watching the television or looking at the whiteboard but may find reading a book difficult.
- may have to focus very hard to see near things clearly, which may cause eye strain and headaches
At school, they may:
- have difficulty seeing textbooks
- occasionally squint to see small detail in text and pictures
People with hypermetropia often find it difficult to quickly change focus from near to distance (and vice versa), such as when copying from the board.
What can be done to help
Spectacles or contact lenses are often prescribed to improve vision.
How to support students with hypermetropia
Students may need:
- clearly presented worksheets and reading materials with a good contrast between text image and background and, possibly enlarged or modified
- work to be presented on A4 rather than enlarge to A3: A3 size can be unwieldy and affect pixilation, blurring the content
- extra time to study objects, demonstrations and visual displays closely
- modified programmes for PE and Games, as fast moving team games may be difficult
- to sit near the front of the classroom or to one side, depending on the preferred angle of vision
- good levels of lighting, neither bright sunlight nor semi-darkness: the light source should come from behind the pupil and onto the object being viewed
- verbal descriptions of objects and displays which are outside the range of vision
- encouragement to use glasses, contact lenses and low vision aids
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