Taking Advocacy To Another Level

The book is due out in July 2016, and it will be outstanding.  Pre-order your copy today.

Now for the back story.  Wendy Beth Rosen is a parent with a teaching background, whose family has been cared for by our VisionHelp colleague, Dr. Barry Tannen.  Ms. Rosen first learned about visual issues impacting education through a psychologist who pointed her in the right direction when she sought a second opinion about her daughter’s Child Study Team evaluation.  That psychologist felt there might be a vision correlation and referred Wendy to a behavioral optometrist to have her daughter evaluated. She was diagnosed with several visual deficits and, after nine months of vision therapy, she was fully rehabilitated and later de-classified.  Needless to say, vision therapy changed her life.  She  graduated high school  as a proud member of the National Honor Society, and is now a thriving college student.

A certified early childhood and elementary teacher with extensive classroom experience, Wendy couldn’t believe she had never heard of vision-related learning problems.  She  immersed herself in the field, ultimately embarking on a mission to educate others about what she had learned.  Wendy was determined to catalyze change in two fundamental systems – education and healthcare. This book has a number of superb chapters that demonstrate how well Wendy has stayed true to her mission.  She explores how we can advocate for redesigning learning environments that support healthy vision development, and appropriate treatment for deficits when present.  Nor does she shy away from controversy, tackling the  challenges about the efficacy of vision therapy and the integrity of the field.  Wendy recognized early on that this confusion sometimes dissuades people from seeking evaluation or treatment.

Considering the endorsements that pre-publications copies of the book have garnered, Wendy is poised to accomplish her mission.

“This is a book that should be read by every school psychologist, clinician, pediatrician, and all other professionals working with children in a diagnostic or therapeutic capacity. You will learn, as I did, that there is much more to vision than meets the eye, and that we must understand far more than visual acuity if we are to understand how children are functioning. Until these conditions are recognized and addressed, we will continue to err in the labeling and treatment of many childhood problems. This book will open your eyes to your eyes, and to those of your children.”— Maurice J. Elias, PhD, professor of clinical psychology, Rutgers University, author of ‘The Other Side of the Report Card: Assessing Students’ Social, Emotional, and Character Development’.

“Vision is so much more than seeing, as we learn in this highly informative and provocative book. In understanding the role of vision in the reading process, the whole child must be taken into consideration, and developmentally appropriate practice must guide it.  Reading is more than decoding words. This book is a must-read for all early childhood educators.”— Marcy Guddemi, PhD, executive director, Gesell Institute of Child Development, New Haven, CT.

“Wendy Beth Rosen has brought together an impressive amount of information pointing to the importance of early comprehensive visual testing and therapy that will impact the lives of so many children, families, the educational system, and even the national economy. This is a must read for parents, educators, health professionals, lawmakers and anyone committed to a better future through our children.”— Carla Hannaford, PhD, biologist, author, and international consultant.