Often, a person who is red-green or blue-yellow deficient isn't completely insensitive to both colors.

The most common color deficiency is an inability to see some shades of red and green. People affected by color blindness may not be able to distinguish: Some people figure out that they or their child has the condition when it causes confusion - such as when there are problems differentiating the colors in a traffic light or interpreting color-coded learning materials. When color blindness is detected early, teachers can be notified and educated on how they can best accommodate their student’s learning success.You may have a color vision deficiency and not know it. If you think your child might be color blind, schedule an eye exam as soon as possible.Īn early diagnosis of colorblindness will enable your child to be successful in school, even with a color vision deficiency. However, these lenses are not always effective, and can be very expensive. Special lenses that utilize filters to improve color perception have been designed for people with colorblindness.

For example, encourage your child to learn to match colors with objects by memorization, teach your child to choose outfits that match by asking a parent, sibling, or friend, and help your child recognize certain items by their order rather than color such as a traffic light.

While a cure for color blindness has yet to be discovered, there are coping strategies that can help your child adapt to their color vision deficiencies, to enjoy a normal happy life. Is there a treatment for color blindness?

Write out the names of colors if they are relevant to the lesson, such as yellow sun, blue sky, red ladybug, green grass.

Print all handouts with a high black/white contrast on white paper, not on colored paper.

Write in black ink on a whiteboard instead of using colored ink.

To facilitate success in the classroom, teachers should apply the following suggestions: It is important for teachers to understand the symptoms of color blindness in order to best accommodate their students. How can teachers accommodate children with color blindness? SEE RELATED: Tinted Lenses for Color Blindness If your child shows any signs above, contact an eye doctor near you, who can discuss the many options to help your child.

Refusal to participate in sorting or counting games with colored blocks or beads.

Headaches after staring at red text on a green background, or reversed.

Difficulty reading words on colored pages, or with colored text.

Excellent sense of smell- often smelling food before eating.

Increased difficulty recognizing colors in dimmer lighting, smaller colored sections, and colors of the same shade.

Difficulty recognizing red or green crayons.

Reduced attention for coloring worksheets.

Using the wrong colors when coloring an object – such as purple grass.

Confusion of certain colors or shades of colors.

Symptoms of color blindness are generally noticed when children begin to learn the different names of colors. This is why color blindness affects more men than women. The gene is then passed from this daughter to half of her sons.Ī daughter can only be color blind when both her mother and father are color blind and pass along the gene. The daughter then becomes a carrier- she will not be color blind.

When the mother passes the gene to her sons, they will be color blind.Ĭolor blindness is caused by an X-linked recessive gene that a color-blind man will pass onto all his daughters.

8% of males and less than 1% of females are color blind.

An inherited conditionĬolorblindness is an inherited condition that affects males more than females. While colorblindness can be quite an inconvenience at times, it generally does not prevent a child from participating in daily activities, or successfully reaching developmental milestones.

Achromatopsia is another rare form of colorblindness that prevents all color perception, and causes the world to appear in different shades of gray.

Blue-yellow colorblindness is a more rare form, and causes blue to appear green, and yellow to appear violet.

Red-green colorblindness is the most common form, and affects dark reds and dark greens- making them appear gray/brown.

Look at the images below, can you see the numbers: 12, 2, 42, 74 and 6?įind an eye doctor near you that has experience in diagnosing and providing advice for children who are color blind. Color blindness is not blindness at all, rather a condition that prevents a person from distinguishing certain colors from each other.Ĭolor blindness most commonly occurs when the color-detecting nerve cells in the back of the eye (cones) do not respond appropriately to certain wavelengths of light that allow for color vision.

Kids taking color blind test book