| The Schedule - Vision Screening 2008-2009 Once again the GP DG�s will "Do Good" by conducting vision screening with four-year-old children. We will screen the children at the AM and PM sessions at GP Pre-K South and the Neighborhood Club Nursery Schools, as well as the morning sessions of GP Pre-K Central, Grosse Pointe Memorial Church Pre-school and the Christ Church Co-op Nursery School. To sign-up to help screen children please contact Cary Sottrel at [email protected]. |
| Our History Grosse Pointe Delta Gamma's have been vision screening four-year old children since the 1960's. Back then, our "screening machine" was an illustrated metal box with a rotating disk displaying the capital letter "E" in different positions. It was set upon a tripod, and situated 20 feet down a hall from the children, who stood on cardboard feet. The DG Team consisted of one woman standing with the child, holding an occluder over their eyes, while another DG rotated the disc. |
| The Test We do not profess to be professionals. On the contrary, we are simply screening to determine if a child is seeing as well as they should for their age. At four years old, a child should be able to see up to 20/30, and that is what we do. The new machine makes it easy for a child to either verbally identify one of the four alphabet letters as they light up on the board, or point to the "match" from a chart placed on the table in front of them. Reading skills are not mandatory for this screening. After a few "fun" muscle balance tests, the child is allowed to keep the paper "occluder" and return to their classmates. Any discrepancy in the test is a red flag for us to do a second test: re-screening with another team of DGs. If, after the second (identical) test, the child is still struggling, then we refer them to the family doctor for further testing with a professional eye exam. |
| Vision Screening another way Delta Gamma's "Do Good" for our communities. For more information on vision screening, how to conduct the screening, or how to sign up to volunteer please contact Cary Sottrel at [email protected]. |
| Training Our more experienced screeners are more than happy to pass on the training for new members willing to devote just two hours during the school day (most of the sessions are in the morning), once or twice a week in early November to screen. The only skill involved is being ready to be charmed by four-year olds! All screening is done in pairs, so newbies will be paired up with an experienced screener. It's fun, and the experience is very rewarding! For more than 15 years, we have vision screened an average of 250 children, referring between 2-7 children to an eye doctor each year. We know we are doing something that will have a positive impact on the lives of children in our community, and we are happy to have had this opportunity to "Do Good". |
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| Sometimes a third DG watched the child's reaction and recorded the results. We did this in conjunction with the Grosse Pointe School System as part of their pre-kindergarten readiness exams, along with the county hearing specialists and counselors. The Grosse Pointe School System dropped this program in the late 80's, but the Grosse Pointe Delta Gamma�s felt it was a program worth pursuing. After training at the Toledo Sight Center, and with a grant from the Grosse Pointe Ophthalmologists to purchase a remote-controlled vision screening machine, the Delta Gammas found a welcome reception from the pre-schools (two of which were headed by Delta Gamma Alumnae!) to screen the children right in their own classrooms during school hours. The new machine only required a 10-foot range, making allotted space more readily available. Also, with the remote control, a single screener was capable of handling the tasks, although we still find it easier to do the screening in teams of two. This makes the children more comfortable, it moves the process faster, and we have found this program to be very successful. |
| Grosse Pointe alumnae chapter Vision Screening |
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| This page was last updated on 10/14/2008. |
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