New program offers free pair of glasses to kindergarten kids

By Lethbridge Herald on September 17, 2025.

Sam Leishman
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

An important item might have been missed on your child’s back-to-school list: Glasses.

The Alberta Association of Optometrists may be able to help with the expense, too.

The Eye See Eye Learn program launched this school year, offering a free pair of glasses to kindergarten-aged children at participating clinics across the province.

As long as your child hasn’t reached Grade 1 yet, there are no further eligibility requirements and no paperwork to submit before booking an eye exam. Parents and caregivers can visit the association’s website to find participating clinics in their area.

There are currently eight clinics in Lethbridge offering the program.

Mansoor Choudhry, an optometrist at the 4 Ave S FYidoctors location which is offering Eye See Eye Learn, says detecting vision problems in early childhood is often key to preventing future issues.

“For the first 12 to 13 years of life, 80 per cent of learning is visual. Most kids won’t complain because they don’t know any better. They don’t think their vision is bad, they just think this is how everyone sees. If it’s not caught, then learning for them is going to be harder. Early detection sets them up for success not just in school, but everything becomes easier for them.”

As one such example, Choudhry explained that if a child’s right eye is functioning better than their left eye, then the brain can compensate over time to shut down vision in the left eye. With the help of an experienced optometrist, however, treatment in the form of glasses can help both eyes function together and improve vision.

e notes that there are a few warning signs that parents, caregivers and teachers should be aware of in kids. Squinting often, headaches, excessive blinking, favouring one eye, one eye moving differently than the other and even some classroom behaviours like a lack of focus and reading difficulties might indicate vision problems.

During an exam, Choudhry says, your child’s optometrist will inspect not only their vision but the health of their whole eye, including muscle function, colour vision and depth perception.

“With kids, their focusing muscles are just so strong that they can often compensate for other things.” “They might not even have much of a prescription, but we’ll do additional tests to uncover what’s really going on. They might end up needing glasses not necessarily to help clear their vision but to get other things to work better.”

Choudhry also warns that Alberta Health Services used to cover the full cost of a child’s eye exam, but some clinics are now charging a co-pay due to recent fee changes implemented by the provincial government. He suggests calling your chosen clinic to discuss finances ahead of time before seeking out this free program.

He adds that Eye See Eye Learn is a great opportunity to increase awareness about children’s eye health and increase access to care.