My daughter has Amblyopia (Lazy Eye) and has to wear an eye patch for 4 hours a day. As a parent, I am always on the lookout for beneficial activities to do while patching. Patching is tiresome and generally not a fun time of the day for her, so I try to make it go buy quickly but also doing activities that are productive. Our Ophthalmologist encouraged me to focus on activities that really "work" her eyes - where she needs to focus and actively look. While watching TV is sometimes recommended, my child isn't sedentary. She may be watching her favorite Hannah Montana television program but she is almost always playing with any of her hundred other toys while the TV is on in the background. Things that I like her to do while patching include: coloring pages, crafts, puzzles, looking at books, and now playing the Nintendo DS. While this seems like a laundry list of options, with a young child something may only keep her interest for a few minutes at a time and she needs to patch for hours every day. So, I am always looking for ideas to help get through our patching. From talking to other parents of children with Amblyopia, I know that I'm not alone on this topic. Patching time is tough!

The book, 45 Lazy Eye Exercises, was written by a mother of a child with Amblyopia - like myself. The author, Tammie Taylor, has taken her years of experience and put together a compilation of 45 activties/exercise (in 70 pages) of beneficial near-sighted activities for children who are patching and need to work on strengthening their "lazy eye". She speaks from experience and includes a wide range of ideas for things to do that are both fun for kids and also helpful.

I read through the book in a single sitting - its definitely easy to read and written in plain everyday language. As I read it I definitely found some activities that we already are doing, and many new ideas. The activities suggested in the book are aimed at a pre-k/early elementary school age child and most can be adapted based on your childs interest and ability. For example, some definitely require reading skills - but most do not. I can see myself turning to this book as a resource and "idea" book for rainy days and to help fill the days where my daughter is struggling and giving me a hardtime as the hours on the clock run out for her patch time.

Kudos to Tammie Taylor for putting together such a helpful book for kids with Amblyopia (Lazy Eye).

I recommend this book to:

* Parents of children with Amblyopia (Lazy Eye). Whether you are a parent of a newly diagnosed child, or a seasoned parent you will find ideas in this book.
*Teachers who may have children in their class with Amblyopia could benefit from reading this. This book has so many good ideas about what types of learning activities are particularly beneficial.
* Eye doctors who treat children with Amblyopia.

Parents of children with Amblyopia (Lazy Eye) will want to add Tammie Taylor's 45 Lazy Eye Exercises book to their "library" of tools!