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{Via} *Warning: Long post ahead!
Definition: Color blindness is the inability to see certain colors in the usual way.
Yes, I think E is colorblind. Although it is known as the "Mans Disease" (its not really a disease, though). Her biological father, [Genetic Donor], was colorblind if I remember correctly. We have been working on colors for a while now and she is having a hard time. Everything seems to be "BLUE". At first it was cute, now I have reason for concern. Esp, when I tell her this is "red" (while hold up something that is very red, like an ALL red flash card) then ask her, again, "what color is this?" and she says "Blue". Yesterday we worked for a LONG time with our colors book, and for the first 10/15 mins everything was blue. I told her to "relax & focus" then she would repeat me on the colors then everything was "green" or "white" then we were back to "blue". M thinks I am bored so I look for things to be wrong. I think I am being diligent. NOTHING, aside from constant ear infections (and I can't make THOSE up), has ever been wrong with her.
Sadly, she seems to have gotten a lot from GD. Left handed. Fair, sensitive skin. Oddly spaced teeth. Hair color. Build (This is the only ONE I am THANKFUL for, she'll be taller than I was (5foot) and skinny- his family is all skinny... mine, well we're southern & like our comfort foods- A lot). Blood type- Sadly, she didn't get mine, him and I were the same letter, just he was positive and I was negative, made for some fun shots during my pregnancy. I digress. So why wouldn't she have inherited this poor trait too?
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Symptoms:
Symptoms vary from person to person, but may include:
- Trouble seeing colors and the brightness of colors in the usual way
- Inability to tell the difference between shades of the same or similar colors
Often, the symptoms may be so mild that some persons do not know they are color blind. A parent may notice signs of color blindness when a child is learning his or her colors. (this is were we are right now... I will be keeping a very keen eye on miss E)
Rapid, side-to-side eye movements and other symptoms may occur in severe cases.
Treatment
There is no known treatment. -- Well Duh... I knew this.
Causes
Color blindness occurs when there is a problem with the color-sensing materials (pigments) in certain nerve cells of the eye. These cells are called cones. They are found in the retina, the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the inner eye.
If you are missing just one pigment, you might have trouble telling the difference between red and green (so far she seems to not "see" red). This is the most common type of color blindness (makes sense why she doesn't "see" red then). Other times, people have trouble seeing blue-yellow colors (Nope! She "sees" Blue just fine, or so she says). People with blue-yellow color blindness almost always have problems identify reds and greens (if she can "see" blue, why can't she "see" red, too?!), too.
The most severe form of color blindness is achromatopsia. A person with this rare condition cannot see any color. Achromatopsia is often associated with lazy eye, nystagmus (small, jerky eye movements), severe light sensitivity, and extremely poor vision.
Most color blindness is due to a genetic problem (Thanks to her GD). (See: X-linked recessive) About 1 in 10 men have some form of color blindness. Very few women are color blind (Leave it to my daughter to be one of the few women... doesn't mean she can run off and be "One of the few" - 5pts if you get that).
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I know I might be jumping the gun on this, but I would rather be "safe then sorry". You can never be to cautious with your children, esp when the GD has said problem & when she was quick learning everything else (rolling over, sitting, crawling, walking, talking, counting, etc..) and now she can't grasp this? She's 26mons and can count to 15 unassisted... 20 with help, I don't know much but I think thats great! Shes doing great on the "ABC's", She knows the "Wheels on the Bus", Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "Itsy, Bitsy Spider" & a few others. Basically she excels so it doesn't make sense for her not to here.
I have been pushing colors so hard & we both get so frustrated, if she is C.B., then obviously I would, back off. If she's not, then I need to find a new approach, b/c the one I am using now sucks doesn't work for E, every child is different, and I need to find her niche.
I am going to wait a little while, keep working with her, see if it resolves, if it doesn't, I will talk to her ped (in FL b/c I am newly un-fond of her PA peds office) & go from there. I am hoping it's a phase, a "blue" phase.
If she is C.B. I won't love her anyless, I will just remember that I will have to buy/pick out her clothes... FOREVER!! So when she goes away to college I will have to label all her clothes for her, so she doesn't walk out of her dorm looking a fool. No, I didn't JUST say that, that was b.a.d.
**Freaders... are any of your children/nieces/nephews/kids you babysit/teach/etc C.B.? or are any of their friends? How did their parents/guardians figure it out? Let me know!!!
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Don't miss a beat, keep up in between posts, I Tweet , a lot.
xo
-Kandid Kelli
2 comments:
My little man is now 2yrs 5mos. I think you know, as you have mentioned before, that he also has problems with colors. He, just like E, excells EVERYWHERE else, so yes, it makes me a little curious as to why this is the ONE area he's not grasping. As for now, I am just thinking that maybe he just doens't get the concept of colors yet. Maybe he just doesn't understand what I am telling him is red...the shape of the car? The size? The placement? I'm thinking for now that maybe the reason he says everything is red is just that's his favorite color to say. Before he was 2, his favorite color to say was blue. Now he starts with red, if that's wrong, he guesses orange, if that's wrong he guess is white. It's always the same, it seems. I'll probably bring it up at his next appointment, just ask at what age I should worry that he's not 'getting' it. I know more kids around his age now that DON'T know their colors than DO. Even ones who also excell, like E and him, and still don't get the colors thing. When he was an infant he had a color blindness test, too. So idk if that was testing some different form of it, or if it could have developed since, but that test he did then said he was fine.
Long story short, I'm in the same boat as you. LoL.
Most likely she isn't understanding what colors are yet- which is not a problem. It seems to me that she is going to excel greatly in academia but maybe won't excel too much in creativity.
I think a different approach would be to focus on shapes and other lessons, then slowly make your way back to colors. OR you can start explaining what colors are... take her outside and say, "Hey E, is that a tree? Okay, are the leaves on that tree green?"
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