I just screened my first PK class for the year, and I am EXHAUSTED!!!! I did not remember how much harder it is for the little ones who have never done this before. I was only at it for an hour and a half and I am spent! I did quickly decide that for the ones who just aren't getting it, I just did height and weight and will try vision and hearing again after winter break. Turned out there were only 4 from a class of 22 that I will need to go back and catch again. Thankfully, this was my last class to screen for today, or I am not sure I would make it! Next week I have a PK and a 3rd that I can spread over the course of the week, then the following week the last PK and the last 3rd, plus a few that were absent when I first screened their class or newly enrolled then I AM DONE WITH SCREENING!!! Cannot wait to have it over with so I can focus on other things. How is everyone else's screenings going?

Purple,

I feel your pain when it comes to screening PK kids.

Hate to sound like I'm bragging, but I've been done with H/V and AN screenings since October. Even have my rescreens done and referals out. Hope it goes better for you!

sara

WOW! You are awesome! I did not get started until October, mainly because they kept moving kids from class to class and some teachers even swapped grades, so I could never get an actual ROLL to screen from until then, LOL! How nice it must be to have all that out of the way and be able to enjoy the kids around this time of year. Good job!

purple, it is very s-l-o-w going with pk for sure !! they are so timid and they sometimes just don't "get it" when you ask for a response. it involves a lot of patience :loveya: my screenings are finished and i have lots of filing to do now. it never seems to end !! good luck with the rest of your screenings

praiser :heartbeat

Don't worry, Purple. I'll be doing screenings till May! My kids are high school age so they understand it, I just can't pin them down to come to the health office! It always manages to get done every year, though.

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I like to get h&v done as soon as possible in the school year. The sooner you have a h&v fail, the sooner you can rescreen. The sooner you rescreen, the sooner you can refer the child to a specialist. The sooner that happens, the sooner you can follow up with the parent to be sure the child was seen. The sooner the child is seen the sooner treatment (if necessary) can begin... and the sooner THAT happens, the better for the education of that child.

For Kindergarteners you should be using a vision screening instrument designed for non readers. I have used both the HOTV and the Lea screening tests for this age group - none of the districts I worked for used Snellen tests for Kindergarteners. You can successfully screen the majority of 3 year olds, all 4 & 5 year olds and many children with developmental disabilities using these screening tools.

"Our procedure is to do a mass school screening with parent volunteers,.."

Parent volunteers should not be used to screen this age group. In fact many skilled screeners cannot screen this age group - it takes people who very skilled with specific skills for screening young children.

What state are you in? Many states require anyone doing hearing and vision screening to complete certification course and pass a compentency demonstration, even if licensed nurses.

Here is a study that looks at vision screening in this age group:

http://www.nei.nih.gov/neitrials/static/study85.asp

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"we have to work within the constraints of limited hours, limited funds and limited equipment. "

Why do you have to have work within the constraints of limited hours, limited funds and limited equipment? Who says we just accept what we are given and not advocate for our students for what is needed?

Why when it is yielding, according to you, an extraordinary rescreen percentage? And how much excessive unnecessary out of class time is amounting to? First for the screen, using the wrong screening tool with untrained screeners and then taking them out of class again to rescreen them?

Investigate the screening instruments should be using for this age group. Snelling charts are obviously inappropriate for this age group. It doesn't cost ANY more money to use the right screening instrument.

We have not only the authority to suggest more efficient and economical methods of doing screenings, we have an obligation to do so. You are the expert. You have the ability and the authority to conduct vision and hearing screening for kindergarteners at Kindergarten roundup, by an RN and avoid this excessive out of class time and inefficient and costly inefficient use of parent volunteers for this age group.

Please don't assume that I don't advocate for my students.

I believe it would be inappropriate to continue this discussion given conclusions being made by posters who know virtually nothing about the community I serve.

This is my first year n elementary, came from middle school.I did my first class of PK this week, did 16 and it took the entire day. I am also 8 months pregnant. I think I will wait until I get back from maternity leave to do the rest. My ankles and legs looked like huge sausages by the end of the day!!!

I just want to scream when I think about how many screenings I have yet to do. I am in a very large school and do not have an adequate place to do hearing. I have 1200 elem. students PK-6th. Last year I had screeners come in and do most of the screenings. This year there are no screeners. I was given a nurse assist on Mondays and an RN on Wednesdays and Thursdays. They have taken my RN already and put her back at her school of 400 students where she has been for the last 17 years under title 1. Where is the equity. She is on the same pay scale as I am but I have 3 times as many students. Was told that they should have never pulled her from her school because her school is Title 1.

Anyway, I have screened 8 sections of Kindergarten and done their recreenings. And have done first screenings on 4 of the 6 sections of 5th grade and completed 1 section of 1st grade. This means that I still have 8 sections of 3rd graders, 7 sections of 1st graders, 2 sections of 5th graders and my 88 preschoolers to do.

Life is just no fair. I work about 10 hours a day. 10 persent of our student population is special ed so there are re-evals to do on them and I have about 20 SST referrals waiting for my attention. I have not inputed all of my medications nor have I even started on health management plans or health codes. I have made a list of students with health conditions and I have 82 asmatics, 10 students with seizures of which 3 take seizure meds daily at school. And multipe other health conditions. I have a child on continuous tube feed and another with a g=tube which receives meds and bolus feed daily.

Do I have a right to whine. I absolutely do and so here it is. Wha Wha Wha!!!. I envy those school nurses that leave right on time every day and sometimes a little early on Fridays.

Are there any other nurses out there in the same boat as me? I am sure there are and I feel for you. The only saving grace is that the district I work in pays well. About what I was earning in the hospital. Oh and did I mention that my students are the lowest income area in the city. I take good care of them. No one I care for goes without seeing a doctor if they don't have Medicare or CHIPS. I do a lot of referrals to community resources. I feel good that I can help these kids and their families. It is very rewarding to me. I am definately needed and make a difference. Also I get to see a lot of different medical things with this population of students.

The question is, do anyone of you have a little time to spare after school that you could come volunteer some time to help me catch up? I am desperate. HA HA HA HA Just kidding.