SurvivingInfidelity.com^®

my 4 year old is probably colorblind. my dad and H are both color blind.

My 4 year old doesnt know many colors (knows all of the color names but can't match them to the correct shade) There are a few colors he always knows. Black, white and orange. And there are a few that he always misses with the same wrong answer...like yellow is always green...

About a year ago, he started doing something interesting (to me, atleast! ) He started to describe the colors as something around him. His preschool teacher asked him what color his green boots were, and he said, "They are the color like a frog" Now when he wants something red, its "Can I have the lollipop that's the color like blood" and so on...

Doesn't do it for every color, but a lot of times he will do it for true reds and greens.

Anyone else have a kid do this... Just thought it s very interesting

[This message edited by Gottagetthrough at 7:23 AM, March 20th (Thursday)]

I think you have a smart kiddo there.

I was believed to be colorblind when I was a preschooler, my gpa was colorblind. Mom took me to get tested, nope not colorblind, diagnosis?

Just a spaz.

I did learn my colors. I wanted to say everything was orange, I just liked the word.

I'm actually colorblind and so is my son. He takes a funny sort of pride in it! (Kids are weird.) If your son knows his numbers, there are a lot of tests online that you can do -- if you're not colorblind, you can see the numbers, if you are, you can't. Because there are so many variations of colorblindness, this could be interesting.

Actually, here's one that uses shapes http://colorvisiontesting.com/online%20test.htm

I get only the first one right.

And another one:

http://www.colour-blindness.com/colour-blindness-tests/ishihara-colour-test-plates/

Good luck!

blobette- my son got the first one right and i thought "Oh! maybe he's not colorblind!" then i went on and it said, everyone will get this right

He got the yellow circles but did not see the brown squares, so Im pretty sure my hunch is right

I'm intrigued by his coping mechanism.

LOL Tushnurse!

I was believed to be colorblind when I was a preschooler, my gpa was colorblind. Mom took me to get tested, nope not colorblind, diagnosis?

Just a spaz.

[This message edited by Gottagetthrough at 12:51 PM, March 20th (Thursday)]

DS is severely colorblind. I did not realize it in preschool/Kindergarten because he seemed to be able to tell shades. However, once he was diagnosed, I paid closer attention. If I said, pass me the blue crayon. I would see him turn it to expose the word "blue" on it before passing it.

The way the dr explained it was he can see colors...but not the variations. Like if there are 15 blue buttons all lined up from lightest to darkest, the dr said DS would not be able to tell the hues until the change was VERY drastic. Poor kid, I tested him endlessly when he was diagnosed (black socks versus blue, etc).

There are great websites to help. Elementary school is primarily all color-coded so it is crucial you have him tested so if he is CB, you can make the teachers aware.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. DS is 17 now so it was a long road for us.

ahh the joys of the colorblind child.

DS is VERY colorblind. At that age he was very descriptive in a similar way. They learn to adapt to the world and function that way. My DS has learned to situationally identify colors. He knows some things are green so even if they don't look that way he can tell you it's green. "Yellow like banana" was common in our house at about that age.

Practical piece of advice, particularly in grade school...talk to the teacher at the beginning of the year. It helps them work with your DS. They don't always remember right away but if you're son can't sort the blue skittles from the purple skittles, the teacher will figure it out eventually and not give your child too much grief.

I have a colorblind son. He has figured it out - for the most part - but every so often. He once told me the tomatoes were brown ... they were orangish/reddish. :)

I also make sure to warn the teachers. (He's in third grade now.) So much of how they teach is based on color that I am always worried they'll mark something wrong - even though its right. For example, 'color the apples red if the answer to the math problem is X.' Well, he can't see red (or not all the time).

But ... that's gotten better as he's learned to read and check the crayon! Now, I just need the teachers not to say 'get your red folders out of the desk." LOL

Here's an interesting site ... you can type in a web address and choose a type of color blindness to see how it looks to a person with that type of colorblindness. http://colorfilter.wickline.org/

thanks for the link Blobette

My son is similar to yours Gottagetthrough, ill try the test on him tonight :)

just FYI colorblindness is generally passed from the maternal grandfather to the son. Its not passed from father to son. Mom's if your dad was colorblind your son most likely is.

Colorblindness in women is actually fairly rare.

My DD is color deficient. Her mix ups are red/brown and recently is moving into blues and greens. I find it strange that her colors are changing at 22.

Both of her grandfathers, and her father, are deficient as well.

Our DS is slightly color blind (greens and reds). We didn't learn that until he was 13. Don't know if it explains some of his more colorful combinations when it comes to attire, or if he just likes to be visually loud.

LOL BaxtersBFF -- my DS loves wearing all orange (at least it's one color) -- hadn't thought that the colorblindness could be why! Luckily orange suits him...

BaxtersBFF --lol. right there with you. I was treated to some amazingly unique art projects. I'm also convinced that this explains my son's hatred of buying clothes.

thanks for the advice! my understanding is that its a sometimes annoyance more than anything, but Even Keel got me wondering if there is anything I should be worried about or look out for.

My dads red green colorblind, not too bad I don't think.

LOL, BaxtersBFF, I actually have to dress my H every morning. Ties and shirts and suits... he comes up with some crazy combos himself! My dad and a friends dad both do the same thing-- all navy or black suits, all white or pale blue shirts, and all ties match. You can't go wrong!

also, im surprised the world is so color coded, colorblindness is pretty common!

My poor DS... color blind AND left handed!! LOL! The world is just not made for him!

not to put a downer on this... i thought my kids were colorblind. Turns out they have Stargardt's disease... we battled for a year before a diagnosis.

you've had him tested for colorblindness? School nurses are usually the first to catch this...

good luck!

I don't recall the website because it was a decade ago but they gave some examples...like if the teach was writing with yellow chalk on a green chalkboard - it could be hard to see (DOES anyone use chalkboards anymore??)

Sometimes they have a hard time seeing the boundary lines in sports if the lines are on grass. It said a kid might be deemed difficult for seemingly intentionally kicking a soccer ball out of bounds when they actually may have trouble seeing the line at all.

I would send the teachers an email every single year with link to whatever page that was in elementary school. They were always grateful because they said they are not allowed access to the kid's personal files so they would of never knew. Each teacher would then pull DS aside to make sure he always spoke out if something did not look right so they could help.

just FYI colorblindness is generally passed from the maternal grandfather to the son. Its not passed from father to son. Mom's if your dad was colorblind your son most likely is.

Colorblindness in women is actually fairly rare.

This is what I was told as well. It is true in my situation. The CB came from my side of the family (father is severely CB). The dr told me DD would never have it but if she had a son, he probably would.

They also said females are only CB by some illnesses and they are very rare. I am not sure that is 100% true because I have ran into a few female with it.

I will search about the internet to see if I can find that site.

[This message edited by EvenKeel at 12:23 PM, March 21st (Friday)]

So tickled....I found the site after all these years. This was one of the pages I shared with DS's teachers each year to help.

http://colorvisiontesting.com/color4.htm

It gives some examples that I never considered.

Also, someone told me to make sure you are conscious of your desktop colors. IE...do not use like blue on blue, etc. DS never had a problem on computers that I am aware of though.

One thing that always makes me laugh is he hates maroon or burgundy shirts. He swears they are pink. He will literally argue with me until I need to remind myself that I am arguing about colors with a CB person. Silly me. LOL.

Thanks everyone! DS had an issue in a karate class he took (it was a 2 week free trial, we didn't join). I told the teachers he was CB, and one guy couldn't understand how DS didn't know which circle was the blue circle, which was the red, and which was the green when the kids were told to run to a certain color circle. He just thought DS was being difficult (to be fair, DS was difficult sometimes! Just not in this case!)

And rachelc-- not a downer at all! its good to be aware of other issues. I am sorry that you had to go through so much to get a proper diagnosis