Children's
Eye care
How Children See, Process and Learn
Good vision is essential for learning. Poor eyesight can significantly impact on a child’s ability to learn and also on their behaviour. Although children are screened at school at the age of 4 or 5, problems can still develop between the school screening and the critical age of 8.
Early detection of issues is key
Often Children may not be aware that there is an issue with their vision or may not be able to explain their vision difficulties.
Results can last a lifetime
Children's Eye Exams
Children’s eye exams are different to adults and may require more than 1 visit. We may also need to use special drops to help determine if there is an issue. We welcome children of all ages. Children up to the age of 12 may be entitled to have their eyes tested under the HSE clinics and we welcome prescriptions form local health centres.
Signs that your child may have a problem with their vision
- Complaining of not being able to see the board/TV
- The eye turning in or out
- Holding things close to their face
- Headaches
- Eye rubbing/blinking
- Difficulty in maintaining focus while reading
Children's Eye Care
Richard has a special interest in sports vision and children’s vision. Children’s vision studies the relationship between visual performance and reading. This is particularly helpful for young patients experiencing visual stress, which may lead to symptoms such as words appearing to move on the page, headaches or blurred vision.
Comprehensive Visual Assessment for Reading and Visual Comfort
This comprehensive visual assessment is designed to evaluate reading efficiency and visual comfort, and to identify factors that may affect performance during near tasks.
This may benefit individuals—particularly children—who experience symptoms such as headaches, eye strain, light sensitivity, poor concentration, double vision, or difficulty maintaining place while reading, even when routine eye tests indicate normal vision.
The assessment process includes the following stages:
Stage 1: A telephone discussion to gather background information and determine whether further evaluation is appropriate.
Stage 2: Involves an initial clinic assessment with child-friendly vision tests and observation. If necessary, a more detailed assessment (STAGE 3) will be recommended.
Stage 3: Provides a detailed evaluation of visual function, focusing ability, eye coordination, and visual processing, with additional testing or imaging where required.
Stage 4: Includes follow-up appointments to monitor progress and adjust recommendations.
Based on findings, recommendations may include spectacles, visual strategies, environmental adjustments, or other supportive measures to improve visual comfort and reading efficiency. While outcomes vary between individuals, the goal is to enhance visual performance and reduce discomfort during schoolwork and daily tasks.
The programme emphasises collaboration between parents/guardians, the child, and the clinical team. For full details of the assessment process, please download the document below. A detailed questionnaire must be completed prior to attending the assessment and can be downloaded below.
Richard Hughes Opticians Featured in UBFit Health Magazine
Richard Hughes Opticians was recently featured in UBFit Magazine - Health & Wellness Galway, highlighting the practice's comitement to high-quality eye care in the Galway community. With over 36 years of experience, Richard Hughes continues to provide comprehensive eye examinations, personalised care, and vision services for patients of all ages.
Testimonials
Testimonial 1
March 2026
We first visited Richard Hughes a few years ago when my son was diagnosed with dyslexia. At that time, he was in primary school and facing significant challenges with his studies.
After a thorough assessment, Richard recommended glasses. My son began reading without skipping words and was able to read at a normal pace for the first time.
Over the years, he returned to update his prescription. which further enhanced his reading abilities. Now, as a college student, he continues to wear the glasses and is thriving academically.
I am profoundly grateful to Richard for his invaluable support. I truly belive that without his expertise, my son would have faced a much more difficult journey.
Testimonial 2
My daughter was having trouble in school that was to do with reading and keeping up with the level of reading others were at in her class, which was having a negative effect on her school work and behaviour. We were referred to Richard Hughes Opticians for another opinion.
When we went for her first consultation, he was very pleasant, patient and understanding of our frustration at still having no answer. As we were leaving, he stopped my daughter and asked her to try on a certain pair of glasses. Straight away you could see the big smile and light come back, as my daughter could see clearly. What we learned from her trying on those glasses was that it was not her eyesight that was the issue, but she had a weakness in the eye muscles that made it harder for her to focus on words.
Since finding out this, we haven’t looked back, my daughter’s “eye sight” well the eye muscles have improved and in just a few short years she went from not being interested in going to school to loving to go to school. Now my daughter is doing good in school and enjoys reading also.
Testimonial 3
Hi all,
Today we received my son’s glasses. Thank you so much.
As a mum of two severely dyslexic children I would do anything to help my kids. When my daughter was 8 we were told about Richard and made an appointment straight away. She had coloured lenses and they helped her significantly. I will never forget that first day in Richard’s office, when he put the yellow glasses on her, she looked amazed and turned to me and said wow mum look at everything. From that day on things improved for our girl.
We are now 8 years down the road and our son is on his journey. He’s on his second pair of corrective lenses from Richard. 18 months ago my son could not read and was having such a difficult time in school that autism or adhd was suspected. (He has neither)
He now can read, write, spell and copy from the white board. And is not frustrated in school.
He is in the first percentile dyslexia with one very dominant eye but after only 18 months his reading speed has increased by one minute, his eye muscles have improved by 60%.
Richard, I don’t know how to thank you.
I just wish that every child had the opportunity to visit you and get checked out. Maybe one day in an ideal world every parent will have the chance to witness the wonderful work you can do with children that are suffering needlessly.
God bless you and your team.
Testimonial 4
Hi Richard,
Just wanted to let you know of the following improvements we have seen in the couple of weeks since Seán has worn his glasses.
Improved mood, much happier and far more content in himself
More energetic
Big increase in appetite
Can see things he didn’t notice before as he exclaimed as we were driving ‘wow look at all of the houses behind other houses!’
Improved table manners, very messy eater usually, but there has been a big difference in the way he sits and uses his fork.
Big increase in confidence socially and much more aware of his surroundings.
Does not want to take them off, even reluctant at bedtime!
Kind regards,
Julie
Testimonial 5
June 2023
Testimonial 6
Dear Richard,
My daughter Siobhán was with you some weeks ago and I was telling you how please I was with her glasses. I can’t get over the transformation in my child since she got her glasses. Last year she came out of school pale faced and very often with a pain in her tummy. Since she has her glasses she comes home with rosey cheeks and hasn’t had a sore tummy all year.
Much thanks,
Cáit
Testimonial 7
Oct 2021
I am writing to you to thank you for your expertise on dealing with my daughter’s vision.
We are on a journey that started when she was in Senior infants aged 6 years. She is now 8 years old.
I suspected my daughter Mary was dyslexic when she was reading her school books from memory in senior infants.
At the same time, she had her vision tested at school, she was recalled twice for further rechecks and all was fine.
Literacy became increasing difficult for Mary and her stress levels spiralled. We eventually received a formal diagnosis of severe dyslexia and dyspraxia.
We went on to change schools and in our search for support we came across Richard Hughes Opticians in Knocknacarra.
I could not believe it when Richard discovered that she was firstly longsighted and with Richard’s expertise on the effects of dyslexia/dyspraxia on vision that he was going to put her on a corrective programme for her eye alignment using prisms in the lenses.
I would never have thought to recheck her vision so soon after the previous check and had no awareness of such a programme.
We are a year into this Vision programme and the difference in Mary’s reading speed , ability to see , focus and follow the words is nothing short of amazing and the programme is not even finished. This also obviously positively impacts co-ordination issues related to her dyspraxia.
I have first-hand seen how soul destroying the effects of severe dyslexia can have on a child and how quickly it damages their self-esteem which feeds into all aspects of their life. To think that this diagnosis can be compounded by not having expertise vision checks very specific to this kind of diagnosis. I dread to think where she would be if we had not had this vision check.
Testimonial 8
April 2021
From the age of four, it became apparent to me that my daughter had difficulties identifying colour, completing sequences and following patterns. As a mother of four children and with over 20 years experience as a Primary school Principal, I realised that she struggled with learning and reading in comparison to her siblings and her peers. My daughter has a very engaging personality, she loves horse-riding, baking, dancing, swimming and drama. However, it became obvious that she was losing ground in class due to some sort of visual impairment. My daughter was always regarded as a very dedicated and diligent student but she often spoke of headaches, eyestrain and fatigue. Her reading and her Math became increasingly difficult for her as she graduated from one class to another and it was safe to say that she was losing confidence in herself and in her academic ability.
My daughter was assessed elsewhere and she also was assessed by the Irlen Association but she continued to experience difficulties with reading fluency, sequencing, patterns, reading the time and much more. In order to rule out a specific learning difficulty, we decided to have her assessed by an Educational psychologist who ruled out dyslexia but referred her immediately to Richard Hughes whom she felt could identify My daughter’s visual impairment. My daughter was seen by Richard within a week and was promptly diagnosed as having “uncorrected hyperopia with muscle imbalance in the right dominant eye”.Richard explained to us that this was the main reason for her problems. It is quite simply a focusing problem and a convergence problem, hence her regarding speed was slow for her age, but we were amazed that even at this initial test her reading speed had increased by 30% when the test was over wearing spectacles.
My daughter’s new glasses have made an incredible difference in her life, in her ability to learn and in giving her a “fair playing field” in which to learn and succeed in class. In My daughter’s own words, she can now watch the interactive White Board in class, without squinting, she no longer skips punctuation and the words and numbers in her books no longer jump. Her confidence has grown and she is definitely engaging more inside and outside school. She reads novels aloud everyday now as if to show the world her newly acquired skill. Obviously, we as her parents, are delighted with her progress and the world of possibilities at her young feet. As a Principal teacher of a large school, my thoughts turn to other children who are academically challenged in class, who zone out as a result and how their lives could be changed, like my daughter’s, with the correct diagnosis. We hope Richard Hughes continues to change the lives of so many more children who visit his practice.
Guimíd gach Rath Dé agus ár mbuíochas ó chroí leis as ucht a chabhair le m’iníon.
Le meas,
Mary