Vision and hearing screenings have been completed in the Lihu‘e area elementary schools by the East Kauai Lions Club. More than 440 students in second and fifth grades were screened this year, an increase of 30 percent. “We added Island
Vision and hearing screenings have been completed in the Lihu‘e area elementary schools by the East Kauai Lions Club. More than 440 students in second and fifth grades were screened this year, an increase of 30 percent.
“We added Island School, Olelo Christian Academy, and a Home School Coop to our regular sites of Wilcox Elementary and King K. Elementary,” said Lion JoAnn Steinfort, according to a press release.
This year’s results indicated that 20 percent of all screened students had some vision difficulties while 14 percent had some hearing loss — in either one or both eyes or ears — according to Steinfort. Parents will be notified by the schools if there was any difficulty, so that they can get their children further testing with their medical professionals.
The Lions believe strongly that vision and hearing problems can directly affect a child’s success in school. Many times the struggle in school isn’t inability to read or perform other functions, but is a result of a hearing or sight problem. Words are missed, assignments are missed, children get in trouble, they may even gravitate toward the wrong crowd.
“Maybe it’s a simple problem with sight or hearing that we can help identify. The Lions do an important work in assisting schools with preliminary screenings for these difficulties. Along with teachers and staff, we can help stand in the gap between a child failing or succeeding in school. We can make a difference in the life of a child,” Steinfort states in the release.
Sight and hearing education and services have long been the focus of Lions Clubs International, and no less so with the Lions on Kaua‘i. For more information about some of these services contact Lion JoAnn Steinfort at 246-4712 or Vonn Ramos at 346-7123.
