Pediatric Vision | Department of Ophthalmology | School of Medicine

Please note: the following eye exam resources are not a substitute for an ophthalmologic exam performed by a trained ophthalmic technician, optometrist, or ophthalmologist. These tests are intended to assist us in monitoring progression of your eye condition remotely.

This is a test for measuring vision in a non-reading child.

Distance test (Child)

1) Click here to load a reference sheet for this test. This is a simply page showing the letters used in the test (H, O, T, V) so that your child can recognise and indicate the shapes on the eye chart that follows

2) Click on the image below to enlarge this test. You may either print off this page, or view it on your computer screen.

3) Check that the circle on the right hand side is the size of a $1 coin (a "loonie"). On your computer screen, you may need to adjust the zoom of the page. You can adjust this by going to the VIEW menu of your web browser, and selecting "zoom in" or "zoom out" Printing the document as "actual size" in landscape orientation should make this happen automatically.

4) Position your child 5 feet away from the chart. If they use eyeglasses for seeing far away, keep them on.

5) Test each eye separately by covering the other eye.

6) Point to letters one at a time, and have your child point to the corresponding letter (shape) on the HOTV reference page that your printed off in step (1).

7) Record the numbers on the left side (eg "20/80") for the smallest line for which you can see at least three (3) of the letters reliably/confidently. Please note that this is your "distant" visual acuity.

Note: while we use this symbol based vision test in clinic at the hospital periodically, the HOTV test above is easy to be more accurate with. For this reason, we have decided to include only the above test in our recommended resources.

Other Tests

Visual Acuity

Visual Distortion

Colour