How do you explain an eye exam to a pre-school child using the E test?

Question

I'm doing my pediatric clinicals for my nursing program and would just like some feed back on different ways to explain to pre-schoolers and school-age children how to take the E test and the Snellen test in short simple directions

Answer 1

We used to tell my day care kids that the E was a spider and have them practice showing us with their hands which way the legs were pointing. School age kids just need a simple explanation and some practice covering one eye at a time. They catch on pretty quickly.

Answer 2

they can move their hands the way the E looks - like the sticks coming out are fingers -does that make sense?  Tell them "make your hand look like this picture".  Normally, we don't use the E test though - we have pictures.

Answer 3

We tell them we are going to play a game. First we point to each object on the card and make sure they can identify it - hat, sock, ball, car, etc. Then we call the "E" a table, and point it to one of the objects and tell them it is pointing to the car, then we move the "E" and ask them what it is pointing to. after we do it with the whole group, we do it individually to see if they understand.

Answer 4

We prepare the child ahead of time by giving them each a big paper E to practice with and we teach them this poem as a group:

Up to the ceiling,

Down to the floor,

Over to the window,

Over to the door.

They point their E in the direction the poem says, and sometimes we play a little game asking them where is it pointing now?  If we do these activities for a few days before the eye exam, they are better prepared to respond appropriately to the examiner's questions.