Bad eyesight in youth may have a big affect on behaviour in school says a new paper co-authored by Black Diamond optometrist Dr. Charles Boulet.

The paper, Visual Impediments to Learning, explores the idea of testing a child's vision before they enter the school system.

The paper explained that children who are not tested for far-sightedness will have trouble reading and may become agitated and frustrated.

"In the end these children tend to be less likely to spend time in front of books and computers. They tend to avoid very finely detailed visual works up close and this manifests itself as inattentive behaviour, hyperactive behaviour and certainly children can show problems with reading and the ability to sit and study things for a while," said Boulet.

Boulet explained that the symptoms are very closely related to symptoms of ADHD and learning disabilities and can sometimes lead to a misdiagnosis or even a missed diagnosis.

"We don't check to see that kids are ready to learn in the way that we want them to learn and that's primarily through reading up close and when they have trouble with that we think there is something else going on."

Before becoming an optometrist Boulet had went the education route, which he said was one of the reasons he got involved in the study.

Boulet said he would like to see a relationship founded between schools and vision professionals.

"We can have a team approach where the assessments are being done or being made available through the school and that way we have the best chance of succeeding and ensuring that the most children possible are assessed for these things."

Boulet added that it's shocking to him that a child's vision isn't addressed before being objected to 12 years of visually intensive work.

"The research shows that there is an increasing number of children with reading and learning difficulties in the classroom and this corresponds to an increase in time being spent in class and a reliance on text and computer delivered instruction."

Boulet worked on the paper with University of Lethbridge psychologist Dr. Noella Piquette.

The paper is expected to be published in the Journal of Behavioural Optometry this winter.