Color Blindness??

Hi mommy. I'm a twin myself. One of us were always faster at some things and "I" was always a " little " bit behind in some things. It all balances out because I ended up being a superior cook chief and bottle washer and she grew up getting into everything under the sun. We both had the same gift of loving and giving and that's what's important in life. I was the younger one by the way. Try not to ever compare them. While they are twins, that doesn't mean that each one got 50% of each talent or knowledge. My twin and I are still connected by heart, soul, and eternal closeness though she passed away 6 years ago................

Kara,
I used to have a daycare center and the way I taught the children their colors was with a different colored glass with their lunch or snacks. Each day they got a different color and we went around the table and everyone would tell what color they had each day. We made it into a game and the kids loved it. It worked! Good Luck.

My daughter had the same problem, but everything was yellow. I thought she did not know the difference, until I hear her answer everyone else with the right answers. I realized she only answered yellow to everything only to me because she knew that it drove me crazy(she thought it was funny). So test that theory, he might be smarter than you think.`

Maybe he just likes the sound of those words better. When he says "blue" or "purple" or "green", he may not be actually picturing those colors in his head, but rather just enjoying the feel of those sounds in his mouth.

I had one son who was "three and a half" for 2 years--he just liked the sound of it, I think. :-)

Rather than thinking that he's behind his twin, perhaps you could think of him as being more musical or more sound-oriented.

I also suggest chilling and letting them develop at their own pace. Age three is pretty young. :-)

:-)

I would bring this up to your pediatrician. I know there is a simple test they do. My husband is partially color blind, so we worried about this with our boys. My husband is red/green color bling (I think) so he can tell certain colors apart that are far apart on the color spectrum (ex: red and pink), but he can't tell close colors apart. So, check it out, but they do seem to be pretty young yet.

My dad is extremely color blind and that is just the way with him. Everything is blue and green. But I would wait til he is a little older before you get too worried. My son thought everything was pink until he was almost 4 no matter how many times we went over the colors.

Kara:
First of all it is good to know that there are parents out there just as concerned as we are. The support really helps. I have a twins (1 boy, 1 girl) who turned 3 at the end of January. My daughter knows all of her colors and my son is having a hard time with them as well. We've tried and tried to get him to learn the colors and as you stated, he sometimes gets one color right, but the rest seemed all mixed up. The concept of a color even comes into play. I started poking around on the internet for how to know if your child is color blind and I was getting concerned about this. Well, the twins had their 3 yr checkup with the doctor a couple of weeks ago and we posed this question to the doctor. She did not seem concerned about it at all. She stated not to start worrying about the colors until Kindergarten. She stated boys and girls are different and they generally take longer to learn colors, etc. The other thing she questioned was if color-blindness runs in the family. We do not know for sure, but that is something for you to consider. All in all I think it is too early to tell if your boy is color blind. Give him some time. I think we as parents freak out too soon, but at the same time it is better to be aware and look into things before hand. I congratulate you. It's nice to know we share the same concerns. I hope this helps.

You stated that the teacher in the preschool told you he should know all his color by now "he is 33 mos old".

Please make sure to never compare them on progress they are two different individual and one may be quicker than the other on some things and vice versa.

I had a situation where my son was being told by his teacher that other kids do things quicker than him and he became nervous when he had to do the task until I spoke to his teacher and informed her "comparing kids is not the answer to correcting the situation".

My son is doing better now because I told him never to give up if you can not grasp a subject just try your hardest and ask all the questions you need to ask until you get it.

He did do that and now he is strenghting his skills by asking more questions instead of being nervous thinking someone will be critical.

Put color circle with the name of the color all around your house and tell him to find the red circle, blue circle...and reward him by praising him when he gets the correct color.

Hope this helps.

Right now I would assume it is his age. Just because your twins are the same age does not mean they will do things exactly at the same time. (I am a twin and was always ahead of mine) Keep an eye on this though because he very well could be color blind. It is a female carried trait. Ask around in your family and see if of the men are color blind, if they are, there is a chance your son is too.
Both my brothers are color blind, so was my ex-husband. My ex to the point where I had to put clothes that went together in certain areas in his closet and match up his socks for him. Compared to other things that could be passed down, this is a minor annoyance.
Keep working with him and keep his teachers aware. =)

I had the same issues with my youngest son. I was sure something was off even though he tested fine on the school eye exams. He knew/recognized most colors correctly but had real difficulty with dark green,purple,brown of course occasionally they were named correctly (called them black)After being corrected for so long, one day, he collapsed into a crying heap on the floor and said something like "It's not funny, why are you always trying to tell me that it's not black? I'm tired of you guys trying play this joke on me!" I had him tested at the eye doctor's office around 3rd grade. It was discovered that he was not totally color blind but had a 'red/green deficeincy'. The doc was shocked that it was not discovered during the school checks since she administered the exact test. I recommend getting him checked by a doc. It can save a lot of tears and pride if it is a deficeincy. Good Luck!

He might be color blind, we were told by the eye doctor that my nephew is color blind, he see's some color and he gets mess up on others. You should have him checked by the eye doctor.
I hope this helps
Take care and God Bless
D.

I do not think that this is anything to worry about. My daughter is 32 months old and also thinks most everything is blue. She does get some right but only occasionally. I am a former preschool teacher and found that there were always kids that did not know their colors at the start of the year and they were three and older. I am sure there are somethings that he is stronger at than his brother. They all develop at different paces. I would not worry.

Does he know his numbers? Take him to your pediatrician and they can test him for color blindness. There are varying degrees of color blindness. My father couldn't tell brown, from black, from blue, or purple. My brother has trouble with all his colors. He can't even tell red from green. MY husband has trouble with varying hues of colors in the same family.

He could very well have a certain type of color blindness but don't fret. It isn't life threatening or detrimental to their education. Just be sure that his teachers always know he has a color blindness so he doesn't get in trouble for being a smart alleck (my brother got into trouble with a highschool art teacher because she thought he was being a jerk in class).

My middle child was late learning her colors. (by the way, I don't think 33 months is so very late) We picked one color (yellow) and worked on it for a few days straight. We'd go on "Yellow" walks, and she would point out everything she could find that was yellow. We'd have yellow meals, wear yellow clothes, make yellow play clay, you name it. It finally "clicked" and we moved on to another color. If you teach the colors one-by-one it is a much easier concept to grasp.
I know boys are more likely to be color-blind, so you might need to look into that possibility. We had puzzles at our library where the children had to place the pieces on the correct color base. My daughter had no problem matching up the right colors, so I knew she could see them, she just couldn't name them.

Good luck, and don't worry, he'll get it!

I have 5.5 yr old twins and face the same issues. One struggles and the other catches on quickly. In reference to the color issue, males tend to be color "blind". It is a trait they carry in there genes. Especially strugle w/ blue black purple and brown. Expose your son to the primary colors before introducing any secondary colors. I have also found that I NEED to seperate them when we are working on colors, numbers, shapes, and handwriting, becoming very aware of the fact that he doesn't "know" as much as his twin. If your boys are in the same class, and one hears the other one being praised or compared to, inquire to see if they can be seperated during these activities and be at different station/centers. It gets better with time and nothing you are doing wrong! Just keep up the positive reinforcement and encouragement!

My son is the same age and when we ask him what color something is, he says, "pink." I think he just likes to say the word or something. My 4 year old was slow at learning his colors too so I'm not worried about it. Good luck!

My son just turned 4 and is pretty bright. He has known his colors for a long time with the exception on blue and purple. He seemed to always get the two confused. My dad is color blind and from what I have found out I have passed it down to him. Is your father color blind? He is doing much better now with the two colors. Things he knows are blue or purple (because we've told him) he has no problem with. My skeptical husband doesn't believe me that he is color blind, but I certainly do. If he knew all his colors, but not the common ones for color blindness-it's seems reasonable he is. I'm not sure when he needs to be tested for it. I'm sure before he's in kindergarten.

I know you said your son seems to know his colors now. That is great, but I just wanted to let you know one thing. Daycare teachers even regular teachers do not always know everything! I was a daycare teacher for 14 years and I have a great deal of respect for the things they do, but the schooling and knowledge are not always there. Many teachers have degrees in anything, but childhood education. They only need a minimum amount of early childhood classes to qualify as a "lead teacher". Many teachers will make judgements based on their experiences with other children and not have knowledge to back this up. I have seen this many times with many different situations. People are too wiling to "label" a child. Children develop at many different rates. Most of the time they catch up. When my oldest son was 4 1/2 he still hadn't recognized all of his letters and really disliked writing ( he's 11 and still dislikes writing, but he can read very well!), so the "teacher" started telling me she felt he was really behind and was worried about him. I began to get worried until she said she didn't think he would be ready for kindergarten in the fall. That is when I stopped her. My son would not be going to kindergarten until he was almost 6 because he missed the school cut off date. She was surprised and hadn't realized that. I found out later she had a degree in nursing which does not qualify her to pass judgement on my child!

Just take anything the teachers tell you with a grain of salt before you worry! It will save you alot of stress. Also talking to the director may at times be helpful in discussing developmental problems. Many times the directors do not even know the teachers are diagnosing development issues. I am sure they would like to be aware.

A 33 month old child is not required to know their colors, numbers, or letters. Not that we don't want to work on this, but until they are ready for kindergarten colors should not be an issue. They still teach colors to 4 year olds in preschool!

I would have your son tested. Your pediatrician can do this or I would recommend Dr. Hamming at the Gurnee Eye Service. My son kept coming home having colored pictures of our house that were all brown. Our house is green. He is considered color deficient, not color blind. He only has trouble with the shades of green and red. I often wonder what he really does see!

check this site, has lots of info for color blindness. My father was color blind, and learned to work around it...

http://colorvisiontesting.com/

Hi Kara,

My daughter was the same at that age. We also thought she was colorblind, particularly because it runs in my husband's family. But one day she suddenly knew her colors. It was quite a shocker to us.

Talk to your pediatrician. There's got to be a simple test they can do.

Best of luck!!!

M.

Hi Kara...My son also did this when he was little...if at any point he can say the right color he is not color blind. It took my son along time to get all the colors right. Im not sure why, but everything to him was blue or orange. And then one day my mom was working with him and he got all the colors right...Good luck to you...

My son is 39 months and we experiencing the same thing with him....everything is blue. Our pediatrician said the same thing. Possibly colorblind & more common in boys than girls. We have an appt this thurs for some testing. I'll get back to you on what we find out.

My daughter is 3 and is still having trouble with her colors. I was convinced she was color blind. (as it turns out it's extremely rare for girls to be color bind.)So I did a little research.
As long as they can match colors, decifier between them, then they are not color blind. If they are color blind the colors appear grey.
You can also find pictures online that you can have your child look at, some have shapes or letters in them. You can find them at www.colorvisiontesting.com

Good luck.

My daughter at 2 used to give me the wrong answers all the time...on purpose. She knew I was testing her. It was like a game to her. Since the one twin knows the colors and the says the wrong one...maybe he doesn't want to be a monkey. Or maybe you could be right.