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Health Screenings

Which health screenings may my child receive or need for school and extracurricular participation?

Various screenings of students are required or provided for participation in athletics, for fitness testing, for abnormal spinal curvature, for vision and hearing, and for diabetes.

Athletics Participation

For certain extracurricular activities, a student must submit to certification from an authorized health-care provider. The certification must state that the student has been examined and is physically able to participate in the relevant program, including

  • an athletics program; or
  • any extracurricular programs identified by the superintendent.

Students should be aware of the rare possibility of sudden cardiac arrest, which in athletes is usually caused by a previously unsuspected heart disease or disorder.

Fitness Testing

According to requirements under state law, LTS will annually assess the physical fitness of students. LTS is not required to assess a student for whom, as a result of disability or other condition identified by rule or law, the assessment exam is inappropriate.

Spinal Screening

School-based spinal screening helps identify adolescents with abnormal spinal curvature and refer them for appropriate follow-up by their physician. Screening can detect scoliosis at an early stage, when the curve is mild and may go unnoticed. Early detection is key to controlling spinal deformities.

All students who meet Texas Department of State Health Services criteria will be screened for abnormal spinal curvature before the end of the school year. Spinal screening is noninvasive and conducted following the most recent, nationally accepted, and peer-reviewed standards for spinal screening.

A parent who declines participation in the spinal screening provided by LTS must submit to the principal or designee documentation of a professional examination, which includes the results of a forward-bend test. This documentation must be submitted to LTS during the year the student is scheduled for screening or, if the professional exam is obtained during the following summer, at the beginning of the following school year.

Exemption: A student is exempt from screening if the screening conflicts with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination of which the individual is an adherent or member. To qualify for the exemption, the student’s parent, managing conservator, or guardian must submit to the superintendent or designee, on or before the day of the screening procedure, an affidavit stating the objections to screening.

Vision and Hearing Screenings

All children enrolled in Texas schools must be screened for possible vision and hearing problems in accordance with regulations issued by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Students in certain grade levels identified by state regulations shall be screened for vision and hearing problems annually. A student may be screened using photoscreening to detect vision disorders.

Screening records for individual students may be inspected by the Texas Department of State Health Services or a local health department and may be transferred to another school without parental consent.

Exemption: A student is exempt from screening requirements if screening conflicts with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination of which the individual is an adherent or a member. To qualify for the exemption, the individual or, if the individual is a minor, the minor’s parent, managing conservator, or guardian, must submit to the superintendent or designee on or before the day of admission an affidavit stating the objections to screening.

Acanthosis Screening for Diabetes

Children in certain grades identified by the state must be screened for warning signs of diabetes.

Exemption: A student is exempt from screening if the screening conflicts with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination of which the individual is an adherent or member. To qualify for the exemption, the student’s parent must submit to the principal or designee on or before the day of the screening procedure an affidavit stating the objections to screening.