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My son is 5 and is iffy on knowing his colors. Has known orange since he was 18 mos or so, but all other colors came late.

My Dad and H are both red green colorblind, so I figured, yep, DS is colorblind too.

Recently, he has gotten red. If I show him something red, he can identify it. Green, he says, that is the color like grass, or the color like a frog. He knows that grass is green, so if you push him he'll say, "Oh, that's green"

He can never get blue or yellow, though.

Just wondering if anyone has blue yellow colorblindness? I would have thought since my dad and husband are red green CB, then DS would be too?

We are all going to the eye doctor in a few weeks, so I will of course ask him, but just interested to know if anyone else out there had experience with this! I know colorblindness has many gradations, as well... Just really interesting to me....

Color blindness is passed through the mother's genes. The gene is on the X Chromosome so your H's colorblindness would have no effect on your son. He can only affect colorblindness if you have a daughter. I would think the same would be true for your dad unless you are also color blind. So I guess it would be totally possible that your son is yellow-blue color blind while your dad and H are red-green color blind because the gene would have come from different sources.

Can you trace back to a female ancestor on your mother's side who was blue-green colorblind? She would be the source that was then passed down through your mother, you and on to your son.

I apologize if you already knew this.

No personal experience with color blindness but my BIL is one of those rare individuals who is completely colorblind. His vision consists of shades of gray. From what I understand, he can tell colors by the shade of gray they are, if that makes any sense.

So even if your DS is colorblind, whether red/green or yellow/blue, it doesn't have to limit him. He can learn to compensate, just like my BIL has.

I've been red-green color blind all my life--and I've never heard of blue-yellow colorblindness. I guess it's possible--but again--I've never heard of it.

Your son will do fine. I can get pretty close on my colors--but the light has to be right for me to distinguish correctly. It's no more than an inconvenience to me anymore.

whg

My son was diagnosed in elementary school. If your son is, it is crucial to find out now since sooo many things are color-coded in elementary school level.

I was told there are three levels of color-blindness and my son is the highest (worst) level.

There are websites to give to his teachers to help them help him. If you can't find it, PM me and I will try to find the link (DS is a senior now).

Each year in elementary/middle school I would email the teachers to let them know. It is in his files but due to privacy laws, they were unable to tell the teacher's each year about his colorblindness

If you have any questions, I will try to help ya just let me know.

very interesting! I did not know to look for a blue-green colorblind maternal ancestor...

This is just for my own personal interest... the whole family is going to the eye dr for a yearly check up in a few weeks, and I will ask then...

I just find it strange he can't tell blue or yellow... I wonder if he has compensated and can tell red green by what they look like to him (My husband says lush, green grass looks brown and green lights look white... etc... but he still knows they are green)...

[This message edited by Gottagetthrough at 1:58 PM, August 11th (Monday)]

Take the child to see an optometrist. They can test for colour blindness, even in a child that can't 'read' yet.

You can even google colour blind test and it will bring up circles with numbers in them. Might be able to try some of these to see if he struggles with any colour combinations.

Also, teach HIM to tell people his limitations. Each year I would have one or two kids with color discrimination difficulties. I'd note it in my plans for substitutes, but inevitably, in the rush to implement plans on a moment's notice, it would be overlooked. If the lessons included something about colors, that child knew I'd support him, but he may not get the extra help he needed unless the teacher knew he needed it. He just needs to be able to tell folks that he has difficulty with some colors.

But I do agree, most are able to compensate on most things.