B.T. Are there any signs or symptoms that indicate my child may be color deficient?
Answer: If your child is color deficient, they may have a hard time telling the difference between red, green, brown, and gray; red and black may look the same; pink and purple may be confused with gray or blue ( the red drops out ); dull yellow, orange, and light green may look similar. Pastels and different shades get confused.
Now, what does this mean from a practical stand point! Based on these “confusion” colors, you may notice your child calling “Barney” blue and their green toys brown, red or visa versa. They may tell you to look at a light green object they are holding and it is actually a dull yellow object. When coloring, their choice of colors may seem odd. Why does Lincoln have a green face or Santa Claus have on a brown suite?
Letter From Stephanie: My ten year old son has a color deficiency. How I wish a color vision test was a prerequisite along with the usual medical check-up before Kindergarten. Though I wondered why only my preschooler thought Barney was blue, being he was my first child I didn’t realize he should have a good grasp on his colors long before age five.
Kindergarten through 3rd grade are full of color-coding and coloring with crayons is a major part of most subjects. It was torturous for a child not quite sure what everyone was referring to. Even when a teacher is aware that a child is “color-blind”, colors are ingrained into most aspects of the school day. From the color coded “centers” to picking what you want for lunch (i.e., the red stick for a hot dog, the green stick for grilled cheese). It is a constant source of frustration. Everyday brought a new story, grief from an art teacher for a red & pink Abraham Lincoln, you are in the wrong line, you are not paying attention. Fourth grade has been an absolute joy for my son, crayons were not on the supply list this year! He has developed a off-the-wall sense of humor about color related situations and when the situation comes up he will often make a stab in the dark attempt at naming a color, and when he announces that the paint is purple and it is green he’ll laugh “well give me a break, I’m color blind”. My heart goes out to all those little Kindergarten children sitting in a classroom wondering what on earth the teacher is talking about. It makes me wonder how that affects other aspects of their schooling. I mean they have got to think “this teacher does not make any sense” and perhaps eventually not listen as attentively.
Next fall I will try to interest our parent teacher group in purchasing a color test, but I have a feeling this sort of testing needs to start at the other end of the school power chain, along with vaccines, check their color vision. There wouldn’t happen to be some radical group pushing an anti-color coding agenda would there? As mundane as a color difference may sound, I have found it to be a recurring nightmare for a child with a profound color vision loss.
Answer: Dear Stephanie: Thank you for sharing. I was touched by your concerns and agree we need early testing. My son is also color deficient. I know both our sons will grow up and be just fine. A sense of humor is key. Keep in mind, several of the Presidents of the United States were color deficient. It did not seem to hold them back. Thank you again.
Comment from Tina: Your webpage for color blindness was a great place for me to get information regarding other parents with children diagnosed with this problem. I am a mother of two children, my five year old was just recently diagnosed with being color blind. Although I had suspected this for quit some time because he just couldn’t get his colors straight. My father is also color blind, and I had thought that this might be a possibility, sent down through the gene line. I did ask his pediatrician a few times if we could check, but he had no way of doing this in his office. He suggested going to an optometrist. But when he came home from school one day (his second week of kindergarten) and showed me his green dinosaur, which was actually brown, I gave his teacher a call. She didn’t know if the school nurse had any way of telling if he was having problems with his colors or not, but she would ask. She did have the number test and tested him and of course he failed. I was relieved in a way because I knew that there must be a reason he couldn’t tell certain colors from others. Except the ones that he memorized! Like he know that the grass was green because I told him that it was so many times. His teacher was very supportive and that it wouldn’t effect his grade at all and she would watch him. He does go to her desk a lot to ask what color a crayon is. So brown is green and light pink and light blue is the same color and Barney is blue. My father did well in his life and I’m sure that my son will too. It’s just making life a little more interesting.
Answer: Thank you for your charming e-mail. With your permission, I would like to post it to my FAQ section.
Question from Sandra: My son has always had problems with colors. My mom told me that her dad and each of his 5 brothers are colorblind and that my son very well could be also. He is now 6, and he really is still not clear on colors, however, I now question it. He is an A/B honor roll student. We gave him your online color vision test. He couldn’t see anything, even on the pediatric test. My three year old daughter walked up and after my son couldn’t answer and pointed and exclaimed, “There it is, its a boat, you see it?” So I thought okay, we need to get this documented.
We went to his pediatrician. She held up a red dictionary, my son said it was red. Then she held up another red dictionary, he said that it was brown. Then she gave him an Ishihara color vision test. He couldn’t see anything, so she referred us to an optometrist. However, as soon as we got home that day, he pulled out a sucker and said, “This is red.” Confused, I started picking up cups, glasses, what color, green, red, blue, yellow, orange, etc., all of which were right. Then I grabbed some dull colored construction paper and he got all those right also???? The only problem I saw was that he had trouble with brown and purple.
It is now two weeks later and we just finished at the optometrist. The reason I am asking for your help is because I felt rushed and didn’t understand what the optometrist was telling me. First of all, I wasn’t present at any of the testing, the O.D. never knew anything I told you. He was diagnosed as red/green colorblind and as needing reading glasses.
How is it possible for him to be colorblind given the above information? Is it possible that I am getting the run-around? Any answers you could possibly give me would be so very greatly appreciated. Thank you so very much.
Answer: Thank you for your inquiry. No, you are not being given the run-around.
I can tell you researched the subject on colorblindness well by the fact you tested your son with “dull” (unsaturated) colored construction paper and confusion colors “green”, “yellow”, and “orange”.
From a practical stand point, many protanomalous and deuteranomalous people breeze through life with very little difficulty doing tasks that require normal color vision. Most can identify saturated colors you show them and not even be aware that their color perception is in any way different from normal. The only problem they have is passing a color vision test and occasionally misidentifying certain unsaturated or confusion colors, including brown or purple.
The general rule is “mild” color deficient children can correctly identify most saturated colors. It is normally just different shades or tints that give them problems. With your permission, I would like to share this question and answer on my webpage. I think it will help other parents.
Comment from N.F.: I have a son who is colour blind and was diagnosed in kindergarten. The eye doctor told me to just keep encouraging the colors I saw and he would then develop his own color scheme. He is now 24 and I feel I did him an injustice all through school. He was placed in a learning disabled class due to his uncooperativeness in class. I always felt he was a very bright child but I knew nothing about colour-blindness. I never put two and two together, about the games and tests given in school. How do you make up for all those years of him feeling humiliated? I now have a grandson whom I feel is colour blind and will encourage my daughter to follow through, so he will not face the obstacles my son faced. Your web site has given me a great deal of insight into this problem. In reading several web pages on this topic, I now understand better what my son was going through. Teachers, school systems and doctors need to put more of an emphasis on this problem. Children are being treated unjustly in schools. Maybe a work shop on the subject can make a teacher more aware of the problem and how to work with that child, to help rather than hinder. I also notice now that the majority of children in these Learning Disabled class are male. How can I go about helping our school district to become more aware of this problem and to do more to help the children who have this problem? I truly wish I knew then, what I know now. I could have saved my son the horrors he faced through his school years. His self esteem was damaged by the system and my own stupidity. Thank you for listening to me and keep up the good work. Sincerely, N. L. (Syracuse, NY)
Answer: You did “not” do your son an injustice. You did the right thing by encouraging and confirming the colors he correctly recognized. The majority of color deficient children can correctly identify a lot of colors. It is normally just different shades or tints that give them problems. Also, knowing what color things are can help “severely” color deficient children in their daily tasks. Example: when asked to color a picture, they will know to use the crayon “labeled” green for the grass, blue for the sky, and light tan for Lincoln’s face.
You did not fail your son. The problem is with the system. I like your suggestion “maybe a workshop” on how to help color deficient students in their struggle to learn. I published my webpage What parents and teachers should know about colorblindness to help educate teachers.
I would like to see all color deficient children receive special counseling and education on the subject of color deficiency. Understanding is key in coping and maintaining good self esteem. Also, a sense of humor helps.
Your son is lucky to have you for his mother. I have a feeling he knows that.
Question from J.J. What does the world look like through the eyes of my color deficient child?
Answer: It will vary depending if your child has a protan or deutan deficiency, a combination of both, or whether it is mild or severe deficiency. Let me try explaining technically first and then give you an answer in layman terms.
In protanopia the visible range of the spectrum is shorter at the red end compared with that of the normal, and that part of the spectrum which appears to the normal as blue-green, appears to those with protanopia as grey. The whole visible range of the spectrum in protanopia consists of two areas which are separated from each other by this grey part. Each area appears to those with protanopia as one system of color with different brightness and saturation within each area, the color in one area being different from that of the other. The red with a slight tinge of purple which is the complementary color of blue-green appears also as grey.
In deuteranopia, that part of the spectrum which appears to the normal as green, appears as grey, and the visible range of the spectrum is divided by this zone into two areas, each of which appears to be of one system of color. The visible range of the spectrum is not contracted, in contrast to protanopia. Purple-red which is the complementary color of green appears also as grey.
In protanomalia and deuteranomalia (mild color deficiency), there is no part of the spectrum which appears grey, but the part of spectrum which appears to those with protanopia (severe color deficiency) as grey, appears to those with protanomalia as a grayish indistinct color, and likewise, the gray part of the spectrum seen by the person with deuteranopia (severe color deficiency) appears to those with deuteranomalia as an indistinct color close to grey.
From a simplified and practical stand point, all this technical talk can be summarized. Red-green color deficient individuals lose the brightness of some colors like red (protans are red weak) and other colors like green may look similar to brown, red, yellow, gray, etc.. One of the peculiarities of red-green deficiencies is that blue colors appear to be remarkably clear compared with red and green colors.
For more information to your inquiry, go to this webpage http://www.firelily.com/opinions/color.html. It gives some excellent examples of what the world looks like through the eyes of color deficient individuals. Another good webpage is mine https://colorvisiontesting.com/whatcolorblindpeoplesee.htm
From A.R.: I am a colourblind mum with a colourblind son, and I feel that it is a real advantage to be able to understand what he sees. I had the same help from my father, although my brothers thought it great that they could always beat us at snooker – we kept potting the brown instead of the reds. Our problem usually seems to be with finding the red in colours – green & brown, blue & purple, pink & grey.
I find that as you get older you learn what colour things are supposed to be, then get caught out when someone uses an unexpected colour, like the green trousers I bought for my husband thinking they were brown. Hooray for catalogue shopping, at least when they use understandable colour names. Does anyone else have to ask passers by what colour their bottles are at the bottle recycling banks?
Letter from Phil: About 1 year ago we realized my now 8 year old son is colorblind. Just before Christmas he received a colored bead kit as a gift and he repeatedly picked up a green bead and said it was brown. For a long time before this we noticed him confusing his colors, we just assumed he was being careless. It was not until his 4 year old brother was correcting him and the bead incident did I put 2 and 2 together.
On asking him further he sees purple as blue and sometimes says green is brown or pink. Anyway we had him officially checked and he is colorblind, it doesn’t affect him much now that he reads ,he reads the colors on the crayons.
The interesting part of this story, knowing how its inherited we investigated maternal family members. His mother is normal color vision so we asked her father who is 63 years old. He thought he was normal color vision. I then proceeded to show him a color blindness test and he failed every chart! The man has been a printer for 40 years and it obviously wasn’t a problem for him, he didn’t even know he was color deficient.
I just wanted to share this story. I found this site the other day and I thought it my help other parents.
Answer: Phil, thank you for sharing. Your father-in-law is a good example of someone with a “mild” deficiency that could have been unjustly disqualified from some jobs.
Question From Karen: wondering if you have an estimate of how many people in the US or other population are colorblind.
Answer: I just run across this stat at “http://www.color-vision.com/”. The webpage says there are 15 million color deficient individuals in North America and 250 million worldwide.
Question From P.A.: I am a concerned parent and have a question that hopefully you can help me with. My son is four years old and was diagnosed with color deficiency. We believe my father might have the same problem, but has never been tested. The doctor performed a color test on my son but with the numbers, well my four year old is not very well with his numbers and when the doctor would ask what numbers he would see, he couldn’t tell her because he either didn’t know them or actually could not see them. But when she would show him the pictures with the color from x to x he was “not” able to follow the color from point a to point b. When she seen that he could not follow the color patterns nor reply with the numbers she diagnosed him as being partially colorblind. He has a tendency of seeing everything blue. When I point something out to him and ask “What color is it?” he answers blue. Is there a possibility that she could have misdiagnosed him because of the fact that he could not reply with the proper number? Thank you for your time. Concerned Parent.
Answer: Thank you for your inquiry about your son. It is “most” likely your son is color deficient ( blue is one of the colors color deficient individuals recognize ) and “less” likely he did not understand the test. But, you are right. When there is a nil response, it is hard to be confident in a diagnosis. Color Vision Testing Made Easy was design to help in this area. The first six cards have “two” objects, either a circle, star, and/or square (children do not need to know their numbers). A color deficient person “must” see one object and a color normal person will see “two” objects. This way the color deficient person identifies something letting you know they understand the test and are trying their best. You normally feel confident in your diagnosis. I tested my youngest son at age 2 using CVTME by him simply finding a “ball” circle on eight of nine test cards.
Early diagnosis is important. Have your son re-tested before he starts pre-school. Also, check more of the family history. If grandfather or any uncles, cousins, etc. are color deficient, this makes a more credible diagnosis. I hope you find this answer helpful.
Question From MF: I think my 3 year old son cannot distinguish red and green accurately. Everyone I have tried refuse or are unable to test children unless they know their numbers.
Answer: Look at my webpage (What Teachers Should Know).. It identifies some of the “confusion colors”. Then, ask your son what color some of his favorite toys are e.g. what color is Barney? Purple is some times confused with blue. Also, try to find a vision care professional that has Color Vision Testing Made Easy.
Comment From Donna: My 10 year old son was diagnosed about nine months ago as being colorblind. I had always wondered why he couldn’t distinguish most of his colors. I think he would be considered “severe”. He guesses at all colors most of the time. This recently had an interesting effect on him. He is a soccer player and has never had problems in the past with seeing the field lines because they are usually marked in white. This past weekend, he played in a soccer tournament where they had painted the lines in orange. Philip had a lot of trouble distinguishing where the lines were! I never would have thought of it until it happened to him.
Answer: Thank you for sharing. I am posting your comment because I think others will benefit from reading it. Thank you again.