Color Blind or Too Premarure and Academically Challenging?

Updated on October 08, 2006
D.L. asks from Lafayette, CO
10 answers

My daughter is having difficulty identifying colors. I think she may be too young to grasp the concept,but at the same time she is great with her alphabet, numbers in both English and Spanish and comprehending other concpets. Are we just pushing her, or should we be concerned about her possibly being color blind?

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C.L.

answers from Albuquerque on

Like everyone has said, everyone develops differently. What you could do is get mega blocks, legos (if she doesn't put them in her mouth), etc. and have her sort them by color... even if she isn't identifying them. After she groups them by color, you can name the group for her by its color name. If she does that well, you can move to the next step and buy mini m&m's or jelly beans. If she identifies the color properly, let her eat it. That's what we did with my daughter 9 years ago (she's 11 now). She wanted to eat the "colors" so she learned her colors.

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C.K.

answers from Tucson on

Our oldest son is color-blind. The great news is that your daughter can identify numbers and letters - which is the way they test for color-blindness - putting numbers/letters in color-coded pictures. So, if she can "see" the number/color in the picture, they can rule out color-blindness, or verify that she has it. Here is a link to a site that you can use to pre-test at home: http://colorvisiontesting.com/ An optometrist can give an official diagnosis if you are interested in that.

Good luck!

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L.

answers from Fort Collins on

Hi D., my husband is color blind and so I asked him what he thought and he found this website. http://www.agape1.com/color%20vision.htm
Colorblindness is mostly hereditary, so I bet your daughter is just fine. My daughter is 3 1/2 and does awesome in learning somethings and has a harder time learning others, so just be patient!
L.

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M.K.

answers from Colorado Springs on

I worried about my son but it turns out that he just couldn't put the name to the color. I finally convinced myself that he wasn't color blind by having him match the colors. Yellow to Yellow, ect. I think that if she isn't even two yet that you shouldn't worry. Honestly it sounds like she is being expected to know a lot for her age. I thought only boys could be color blind, or that it is way more likely for males then females. I'm not sure if it is true but that is also something to look into and consider. If your still worried take her into see a doctor.

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T.K.

answers from Phoenix on

At almost 2, it is still hard to identify colors. If your daughter has vision problems, they will test her to see if she is color blind but color blindness runs in boys 95 percent of the time...

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M.

answers from Phoenix on

D.,

Don't worry about your baby being color blind...My daughter knew her alphabet, numbers and shapes well before colors. Every child develops at a different pace. I admit I was a little freaked out that my daughter didn't pick up colors as quickly as she picked up oval and octagon, but she eventually got it. It's just one more thing for us first time mothers to freak out about. I wouldn't worry about it.

Besides, if someone is color blind and you teach them that red is red but they see green they will call green, red...do you see what I mean? A baby will not know the difference between the two just because of their names. They will learn the color to be named what you teach them it is.

Good luck to you.

M.

I am 34 and my daughter will be 3 in February.

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B.

answers from Denver on

Hi D....personally, i would have your daughter's eyes checked. If she is able to recognize letters and numbers, I don't think that colors would be any more difficult. My son is about the same age (22 months), and has been identifying his colors for a while now. Although his pronunciation has much to be desired, he definitely recognizes different colors. He also knows his letters and numbers, but this seemed to come afterwards. I definitely don't think your daughter is "academically challenged", but may very well be color blind. Or maybe she's simply not interested in learning her colors yet (?)...you never know!! Good luck, B.

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D.G.

answers from Tucson on

She will likely surprise you when she is ready. I was beginning to worry about color-blindness as well, with my daughter, she was also very good with numbers and all sorts of things, but she just didn't seem to be getting colors. Then one day, it's almost like she decided she was finally ready, and she just popped off with the right colors left and right. All along she had been absorbing the information, but for some reason just wasn't ready to put what she thought she knew on exhibit. I say just give her some more time.

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K.

answers from Denver on

I don't think you have anything to worry about. My son is 26 months and really bright, but he'll get stuck on one color (the word) and call everything green or yellow...if you say another color, he'll say it too. Ask at her 2-yr appt. My doctor always has me fill something out answering questions about his capabilites until I have answered "no" three times. I hadn't finished yet and he took it saying, "That's okay, he's at the level we expect for age 3", and none of the "tests" were about colors.

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M.M.

answers from Denver on

I thought only males could be color blind, too. Colors take a little longer to master the names--if she can match like colors then she is fine and will pick up the right names evenutally. I think it took my daughter a few months to be able to get color names right consistently though she could do other things like letters, numbers, animals, (makes of cars!) etc.

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