Schools will require lead tests and dental exams
By Fred Love Journal Des Moines Bureau | Posted: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Sergeant Bluff-Luton kindergartner Kylie Schrad gets a dental screening, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008, by Dr. Charles Kiple at Morningside Dental. (Sioux City Journal, Jerry Mennenga)
DES MOINES -- Parents sending their children to school this fall must have proof that their child has had a dental screening and a blood lead test under a new state law that took effect in July.
The blood lead test requirement has been on the books since 2007, but a recent law updated requirements to make sure schools help families get access to the blood tests and dental screenings.
The requirements can't keep children out of school, and the Iowa Department of Public Health has funding available to help families pay for the screenings if necessary, public health officials said.
Sioux City dentist Charles "Chip" Kiple said the dental screening is a good idea, especially for students who may have moved to Iowa from a different state and never had a dental checkup.
It also goes a long way in preventing dental problems later, he said.
"Young children don't have the best brushing habits and can have poor dietary habits," Kiple said. "You want to catch decay early with the new permanent teeth coming in and reduce the amount of tooth destruction."
The law mandates proof that newly enrolled elementary or high school students have had a dental screening that can be performed by a school nurse and doesn't necessarily require a dentist, said Sara Schlievert, a community health consultant for the Iowa Department of Public Health.
"Really, it's just a noninvasive, nondiagnostic look just to make sure children don't have any serious problems that could impact their health and their ability to do well in school," Schlievert said.
She said schools will have to keep up with tracking the records for the blood tests and the dental exams, but she expects school districts to stay on top of it.
"There's concern about a learning curve (for schools), but so far everyone's been really positive," she said.
High concentrations of lead in a child's blood can lead to learning disorders or death, said Rita Gergely, chief of the public health department's lead poisoning prevention bureau.
She encouraged parents to have their children tested as early as a year after birth to minimize the effects of any lead exposure.
Gergely estimated that around 70 percent of children get at least one blood lead test by the age of 6, and she said there are probably fewer than 10,000 kindergarten-age children in Iowa who have not yet received the blood tests.
A new law also requires schools to encourage parents to schedule eye exams for their children by handing out cards from the Iowa Optometric Association when parents register their children for kindergarten next school year.
The measure doesn't mandate eye exams for students, but it requires schools to hand out educational materials on visual health in the classroom to parents during kindergarten roundups and encourage them to have their children examined.
Gary Ellis, executive director of the Iowa Optometric Association, said visual health can play a crucial role in a child's ability to succeed in the classroom.
"An exam can help find things that can go undetected otherwise," Ellis said. "It's critical in the development of a child to make sure the eyes are healthy," he said.
Fred Love can be reached at (515) 243-0138 or fred.love@lee.net.
The blood lead test requirement has been on the books since 2007, but a recent law updated requirements to make sure schools help families get access to the blood tests and dental screenings.
The requirements can't keep children out of school, and the Iowa Department of Public Health has funding available to help families pay for the screenings if necessary, public health officials said.
Sioux City dentist Charles "Chip" Kiple said the dental screening is a good idea, especially for students who may have moved to Iowa from a different state and never had a dental checkup.
It also goes a long way in preventing dental problems later, he said.
"Young children don't have the best brushing habits and can have poor dietary habits," Kiple said. "You want to catch decay early with the new permanent teeth coming in and reduce the amount of tooth destruction."
The law mandates proof that newly enrolled elementary or high school students have had a dental screening that can be performed by a school nurse and doesn't necessarily require a dentist, said Sara Schlievert, a community health consultant for the Iowa Department of Public Health.
"Really, it's just a noninvasive, nondiagnostic look just to make sure children don't have any serious problems that could impact their health and their ability to do well in school," Schlievert said.
She said schools will have to keep up with tracking the records for the blood tests and the dental exams, but she expects school districts to stay on top of it.
"There's concern about a learning curve (for schools), but so far everyone's been really positive," she said.
High concentrations of lead in a child's blood can lead to learning disorders or death, said Rita Gergely, chief of the public health department's lead poisoning prevention bureau.
She encouraged parents to have their children tested as early as a year after birth to minimize the effects of any lead exposure.
Gergely estimated that around 70 percent of children get at least one blood lead test by the age of 6, and she said there are probably fewer than 10,000 kindergarten-age children in Iowa who have not yet received the blood tests.
A new law also requires schools to encourage parents to schedule eye exams for their children by handing out cards from the Iowa Optometric Association when parents register their children for kindergarten next school year.
The measure doesn't mandate eye exams for students, but it requires schools to hand out educational materials on visual health in the classroom to parents during kindergarten roundups and encourage them to have their children examined.
Gary Ellis, executive director of the Iowa Optometric Association, said visual health can play a crucial role in a child's ability to succeed in the classroom.
"An exam can help find things that can go undetected otherwise," Ellis said. "It's critical in the development of a child to make sure the eyes are healthy," he said.
Fred Love can be reached at (515) 243-0138 or fred.love@lee.net.
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Dee wrote on Aug 7, 2008 7:07 PM:
Jane wrote on Aug 7, 2008 6:41 AM:
Cathy wrote on Aug 6, 2008 7:58 PM:
Dont blame the schools wrote on Aug 6, 2008 3:58 PM:
Skip wrote on Aug 6, 2008 3:44 PM:
Thomas Jefferson said "Rightful Liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often the but the tyants will, and always so when it violated the rights of the individual."
A generation that understood true individual liberty and created a country founded upon those principles encouraged open and when necessary violent uprisings (hence the 2nd amendment) to limit the influence of government in the citizens lives.
Start the revolution the November - Vote out the Democrats AND Republicans! "