The Timing of Initiating Eyeglass Wear for Multiple-Handicapped Infants and Children with Mental Retardation

Not many multiple-handicapped infants and children wear eyeglasses, although the incidence of refractive errors is higher in those children than in healthy children. This failure to use eyeglasses where needed is suspected to possibly result in lack of visual experience and an adverse effect on cognition of objects. The timing of initiating eyeglass wear was assessed in 100 multiple-handicapped infants and children with mental retardation, aged 17 years or below. In an attempt to expand visual experience of such children, various reactions of subjects with hyperopia of 4 diopters or more and those with myopia or astigmatism of 2 diopters or more were observed to assess the need for eyeglass prescription. Forty-four subjects (44%) needed prescriptions, among whom 19 were considered suitable for eyeglasses and 20 were not, with 5 subjects unassessable. Of the subjects requiring eyeglass prescription, excluding the unassessable, those suitable for eyeglasses amounted to 10 of 18 subjects (56%) of the group aged 0 to 5, 7 of 14 (50%) of the group aged 6 to 11, and 2 of 7 (29%) of the group aged 12 to 17, exhibiting higher percentages with lower age groups. This result suggests that among multiple-handicapped children with mental retardation, eyeglass prescriptions at earlier ages are linked with a larger number of cases where the use of eyeglasses , which may contribute to growth and development of mentally retarded children, is possible.