Health Screenings

Credentialed School Nurses and other contracted professionals conduct health screenings at all school sites.

Students are screened at the grade levels listed below:

Hearing: Grades K, 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 10th
Vision: Grades TK, K, 2nd, 5th, and 8th
Color Vision: K
Oral Health: K and 3rd (opt-out is provided, as this is not state mandated)

Students may also be screened:

If the parent, teacher or nurse suspect a vision or hearing problem
As a part of special education assessments
If the student new to the state of CA
As needed for district health initiatives

Parents will be notified and referred for further follow-up only when a problem is identified.

Parents may submit a written request to the school main office staff for exemption from any of the above health screenings. This request must be re-submitted annually.

(EC 49456, 49452.5)

A hearing screening is used to assess a student's ability to hear sounds at various frequencies and volumes. This type of screening is crucial for detecting any potential hearing issues that may impact communication and overall quality of life.

Pure Tone Audiometer

A pure tone audiometer screening exposes a student to a series of tones at different frequencies and volumes through headphones. They are then asked to indicate when they hear the sound by raising their hand or pressing a button. This test helps determine the softest tones a person can hear at different pitches.

Pilot Audiometer

A Pilot audiometer is a specialized, 2-in-1 hearing screening device designed primarily for young children. It combines traditional pure-tone testing with a playful "select picture" game, making hearing evaluations engaging and highly accurate for very young students. The student wears headphones and listens to 10 spoken sentences at decreasing volumes. After each sentence, the child points to the corresponding image on a picture board (available in English and Spanish).

Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) Test

The OAE test measures the sounds produced by the inner ear in response to a series of clicks or tones. It is often used to assess the function of the hair cells in the inner ear and can help identify issues such as hearing loss caused by damage to these cells. The OAE is used if your student is unable to condition to traditional pure tone audiometry or the Pilot audiometry and is primarily intended for use with Special Education Preschool students.

It is estimated that 1 in 4 school-aged children has an undiagnosed vision issue that directly impacts their ability to learn. Because kids often do not realize their vision is abnormal, screenings at school serve as a crucial, low-cost safety net to catch hidden problems early.

Visual Acuity Chart

A visual acuity screening is performed by the Credentialed School Nurse. It involves assessing a student's ability to see and identify objects clearly at various distances. This screening is conducted to detect any potential vision problems that may affect daily activities, school work, or overall quality of life. Visual acuity screenings include both far and near distance screenings.
Far vision screening evaluates how well students can see objects at a distance. It may involve identifying shapes on the LEA Symbols chart or letters on the Sloan chart from a distance to assess their ability to see clearly in scenarios such as reading the white board.
Near vision screening assesses the ability to see objects up close, which is important for activities like reading or doing close-up work. This screening involves identifying shapes on the LEA Symbols chart or numbers on the LEA Numbers chart at a comfortable reading distance.

Modified Clinical Technique (MCT)

An MCT (Modified Clinical Technique) vision screening is a comprehensive, clinical eye assessment designed to detect vision issues in children. The screening is administered by a licensed eye professional (optometrist or ophthalmologist) contracted with the District. Unlike visual acuity chart screenings, the MCT evaluates several core components of a student’s vision.

Visual Acuity: Sharpness of vision at both near and distant ranges.
Refractive Error: Problems with how the eye focuses light, which often identifies nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism.
Binocularity: How well the eyes work together as a team.
Eye Health: Examination of the external and internal structures of the eyes

Photoscreening

When a student is unable to complete their vision screening using the above methods, we use a photoscreening digital device called a SPOT Vision Screener to objectively check for vision problems. The photoscreener is like a large camera. It takes a picture of your child's eyes. With that and the infrared measurements, SPOT can detect a number of potential eye conditions.

If the SPOT Vision Screener recommends a complete eye examination, we will send you a referral and include the results from the screener. The SPOT is primarily intended for use with special education preschool students.

Color Vision

The color vision screening includes the use of a color vision test book to check for color vision deficiencies. It is important for students to know if they have color vision deficiencies to prepare for tasks that require accurate color perception. If your student fails a color vision screening, you will receive notification from the Credentialed School Nurse with information about the condition, your student’s health file will be updated to include a color vision deficiency.

Vision Glossary of Terms

Anisocoria: a condition characterized by an unequal size of the eye's pupils.

Anisometropia: a condition in which the two eyes have unequal refractive power; one example of this condition would be if one eye had near-perfect vision and the other eye was near or farsighted.

Astigmatism: an optical defect in which vision is blurred due to the inability of the optics of the eye to focus a point object into a sharp focused image on the retina. This may be due to an irregular or toric curvature of the cornea or lens.

Color Vision Deficiency (CVD): Refers to the partial inability to accurately distinguish specific colors (e.g., mixing up red and green, or blue and yellow). Individuals with CVD still perceive color, but their color spectrum is reduced.

Color Blindness: Achromatopsia, a rare genetic condition where a person cannot see any colors at all. People with this condition perceive the world solely in shades of black, white, and gray.

Gaze Asymmetry and Gaze Deviation: measurements the SPOT uses to detect strabismus, a misalignment of the eyes. Types of Strabismus:
Exotropia: One or both eyes drift or turn outward, away from the nose. (Wall-eyed)
Esotropia: One or both eyes turn inward, toward the nose. (Cross-eyed)
Exophoria: The eyes have a tendency to drift outward (away from the nose) when relaxed or when your vision is obstructed.
Esophoria: The eyes have a tendency to drift inward (toward the nose)

Hyperopia: commonly known as being "farsighted"; a vision issue caused by an imperfection in the eye (often when the eyeball is too short or the lens cannot become round enough), causing difficulty focusing on near objects.

Myopia: commonly known as being "nearsighted"; a condition of the eye where the light that comes in does not directly focus on the retina but in front of it, causing the image that one sees when looking at a distant object to be out of focus.

The Yolo County Oral Health School Screening Initiative works with local dental professionals to provide oral health screening at no cost to students in Yolo County. The goal is to reduce the severity of dental decay in Yolo County’s children through school-based oral health screenings. This screening takes place in the classroom. It does not take the place of a regular dental visit, and its findings may differ from those of your dentist who conducts a full examination with knowledge of your student’s dental history. Parent/guardian will be notified of an upcoming screening and given an opportunity to complete an Opt-Out to exclude their student from the screening.

SDDS Opt-Out
Smile Savers Opt-Out