One of Lachlan’s areas of interest is childhood hearing and vision. He manages children’s eye and ear health alongside other professionals in the Moonee Ponds area, such as speech pathologists, psychologists, ear nose & throat surgeons and opthamologists. Ensuring your child has the best possible vision and hearing is crucial for their general development, education and social interactions.
Childhood Vision
Every child should have an eye examination before turning three, again before they start school and every two years thereafter. If your child has an optical issue that has already been identified they may need to come in more regularly. Our clinic treats children for a host of common optical problems experienced in childhood such as lazy eye, eye turn, short sightedness, long sightedness and astigmatism. Most childhood optical conditions are treatable but it is important to diagnose and treat early. For example, lazy eye can be corrected with spectacles or patching, however it left untreated it can lead to vision loss.
We also diagnose colour blindness, which is not treatable but it is important to know if your child is colour blind so their school can take this into account for your child’s education. Colour blindness can also influence future career choices.
Childhood Hearing
Children should have their hearing tested if you notice the following:
- multiple ear infections
- Speech delay
- Developmental delay
- Learning difficulties
- We also recommend a hearing test prior to starting school.
The first hearing test for most Australian children is conducted in hospital when they are born. Even if the results of this early test were clear, hearing problems can still appear later in childhood. If you are worried about your child’s hearing, our audiologist can perform a hearing check. If you have a GP referral this service is bulk billed, otherwise the cost is $50 at our Moonee Ponds and Camberwell clinics.
A child’s hearing test is a simple and painless procedure where the audiologist will test the child’s ability to respond to different intensities of sound. The audiologist will also inspect the condition of the eardrum. The audiologist performs hearing tests on children aged 12 months and older.. We recommend you book a morning appointment and that your child is in good health on the day of the hearing test. Often the child’s hearing is in normal range, however if your child has a hearing deficit, the audiologist may recommend one of the following courses of action:
- If it is a temporary hearing loss related to a cold or ear infection he will perform a follow-up hearing test in 6 weeks time.
- Referral to an Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon
- Recommend further auditory processing testing (CAPD)