Author reaches out to children facing vision problems
August 10, 2010
At Optometry’s Meeting®, Johannah Birney, left, poses with her mother, Roxanne, who wrote a children’s book titled “Johannah’s Lazy Eye” about coping with vision problems.
When Roxanne Birney’s daughter, Johannah, was getting ready to graduate from high school she sat down and talked to her mom about getting bullied for wearing glasses as a child.
“I could see the pain,” said Birney. “She was 18, and this had been when she was 4, 5, 6, and I thought this was something I needed to write about.”
Birney then wrote a children’s book titled “Johannah’s Lazy Eye” about a little girl coping with vision correction and her classmates’ reactions.
Birney said the book offers help in dealing with differences and understanding classmates and young children.
The book includes a note from the Birney’s family optometrist, Todd Erickson, O.D., who practices in Lantana, Fla.
The book also contains links to www.infantsee.org and www.aoa.org.
Birney has an early childhood development background and is a storyteller.
After reading the book to a group of 300 schoolchildren, the principal reported five children started wearing their prescribed eyeglasses.
“If I can get one child to wear their glasses so they can see, I’m happy,” said Birney.
For more information, visit www.roxannebirney.com or www.amazon.com and search for “Johannah’s Lazy Eye.”
