Color blindness

Justin works in his reading workbook. The directions say to draw lines to the red balls. Too bad all the balls look green to Justin. He guesses and gets many of them wrong.

Haley's teacher writes the vocabulary words in orange on a green chalkboard. Haley can't distinguish most of the letters against the background. Embarrassed, she doesn't copy the words and gets an F on the vocabulary test.

Andy usually loves to read aloud in class. Today, however he balks when the teacher calls on him and claims he can't read. The story in the reader is printed in purple with a blue background.

For these kids, red, orange, yellow and green are simply different names for the same color. Approximately 10% of boys are color blind, while only 0.5% of girls lack full color vision. This genetic deficiency usually passes from mother to son in alternate generations.

You might think someone who is color blind sees only in black and white--like watching an old movie on TV. But that's not true. It's extremely rare to be completely color blind. Most kids who are color blind can see colors. They just don't see the same colors as the rest of us.

Two types of cells in the eye detect light--the cones and the rods. Cones are responsible for our color vision. They are sensitive to red, green and blue wavelength light. "Color blind kids lack some of one, two or all three of these cones," says Scott Steidl, M.D., director of the vitreoretinal service at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Those who see every color of the rainbow can distinguish between more than 100 hues. But color blind kids deal with a different palette. Most see only a handful of colors, and some see less than that.

Because color blindness is a social inconvenience, parents and teachers should be on the lookout for kids with the disorder. "Colors are used as teaching tools in reading and math," says Stiedl.

Books and worksheets come in a rainbow of colors. Counting beads, chalk, maps and other activities all include color. There's no way that kids who can't see the material will be able to learn it. Children who are color blind are easily misdiagnosed with learning disabilities, inattentiveness or laziness in school.

"If a learning disability is suspected, an eye exam by an ophthalmologist is appropriate to rule out color blindness," says Steidl. The test consists of displays made up of different colored dots with numbers hidden inside. A test for younger children containing simple objects hidden in the dots-objects young kids can recognize like circles, stars and squares, is available too. A child who is color deficient can't see the numbers or objects hidden in the colored dots.

If you're not color blind, try to picture a colored pie chart in a textbook. Every slice of pie is the exact same, indistinguishable color. Imagine ordering clothing from a mail order catalogue where each item looks exactly the same color. How about trying to tell if the stoplight is red or yellow when both colors appear to be the same shade of amber?

Until color blind children learn to make adjustments, a host of activities like these can trip them up. In the beginning, coloring maps might be difficult at school. Later, telling a friend at the beach whether or not he is sun burnt, knowing when meat is raw or well done or deciphering between ripe and green tomatoes, ketchup or chocolate syrup, all offer a challenge.

And some foods look downright unappealing to those who can't see each shade on the color chart. If your color blind child turns his nose up at spinach, try to give him a break--to him it may look more like a brownish cow patty.

Color blind kids have a hard time recognizing and remembering colors. They often confuse pastels and other off shades. They may call Barney blue or their toys the wrong colors. Drawing Santa wearing a brown suit is not necessarily just creative. Kids can be tested as early as age 3. "Color testing can and should be done at school screening examinations," says Dr. Steidl.

The sooner the diagnosis of color blindness is made, the sooner proper accommodations can be made at school and home. There's no reason a color blind child shouldn't do just as well as his normal visioned peer. Remember, some very successful folks were thought to be color blind including the artists Van Gogh and Renoir.

Jennifer Nelson is a freelance writer who lives in North Florida. She frequently writes about health and parenting. Her work appears in Woman's Day, Health, Fitness, Parenting and many others. She also writes for the Washington Post.

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