Our Eye Clinic and assessment services support each child’s development to reach their highest visual potential. Information from our exams and assessments provides essential assistance to family members and our teaching and therapeutic team.
Working together, our professional staff and vision partners provide eye exams, low vision clinics, Functional Vision Assessments and Transdisciplinary Arena Style Assessments. We’re pleased to include Visual Evoked Potential testing to help enhance and manage vision care.
Our Eye Clinic provides on-site professional care.
In partnership with pediatric ophthalmologists Robert King MD, Anna Steele MD and the technicians of Children’s Eye Physicians, Anchor Center’s Eye Clinic provides on-site professional care in our own fully-equipped exam room.
What are the benefits of on-site care?
Who qualifies:
Families in need of an Anchor Center Eye Exam appointment may register by calling (720) 557-3741.
Is there a charge?
• Yes. We are a satellite location for Children’s Eye Physicians, which handles billing and insurance. Children’s Eye Physicians accepts most insurance plans, including Medicaid.
• No child is ever denied services because of an inability to pay. Please speak with the Eye Clinic Coordinator for more details.
Families are not limited to receiving eye exams at Anchor Center. We encourage ongoing care with a child’s regular eye doctor. Our eye exams are not a substitute for specialized, regular visits. Anchor Center’s team can refer patients as needed. Our Eye Clinic is held several times a month. To schedule an appointment, please call Anchor Center at (720) 557-3741 or click on the link below to email our Eye Clinic Coordinator.
As part of the intake and enrollment process at Anchor Center, our Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments offer Functional Vision Assessments for children of all ages. These assessments allow teachers, therapists and family members to learn how the child uses vision.
Some of the visual skills our professional staff might observe include but aren’t limited to:
• Fixating – maintaining gaze directly on an object or person
• Scanning – systematically examining an area when completing a task
• Tracking – following the movement of an object or person
• Visual Fields – seeing objects to the sides, above or below eye level
• Eye Preference – using one eye more frequently than the other
Based on the Functional Vision Assessment, our staff will explore how a child’s environment might impact their vision and how any accommodations might assist in their functioning. This might include considerations such as: moving an object closer or further away, allowing more time to complete a task, or color of an object.
Scheduled by appointment only in coordination with our professional team, these child-directed assessments are key to Anchor Center’s eligibility process. Transdisciplinary Arena Style Assessments (TASAs) last approximately two hours and are available for children 2 years 6 months and up for children currently enrolled in Anchor Center programming.
Our transdisciplinary assessment team includes a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments, Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist, Speech Language Pathlologist, and Developmental/Behavioral Specialist to work with the child. TASAs help families have a deeper understanding of their child’s current development and how vision impairment relates to all areas. Following the assessment, families meet with the team to discuss strengths, needs and strategies. Childcare is available during these assessments.
Optometrist Dr. Kara Hanson sees children periodically at Anchor Center to determine which low vision aids will benefit them. Under her leadership, the Low Vision Clinic at Anchor Center specializes in helping patients improve functional vision and gain independence.
Methods of treatment may include:
