Colour Vision Deficiency - how to explain to my 3 year old?

[partofyoupoursoutofme]

I am almost certain my ds has colour vision deficiency and am arranging for him to be tested. I want to talk to him about it but I'm not sure how to approach it.

Does anyone have experience of this? How should I talk about it with him? He is very verbal and seems to be aware that he can't see what we see, but tries to hide it I think.

Any experience or advice welcome!

Anyone?

How old is he?

I don't think you need to explain anything unless you get a diagnosis. Until then, you're just guessing. Children with eye difficulties generally don't realise they have them. They see what they see and assume that everyone else sees that too. For example, my 13 year old suddenly said to me a few days ago "Mum, I saw a picture of what astigmatism does to your eyesight. I've always seen it the same way, but I didn't know anyone else didn't." She thought that the vivid streaks coming from lights was how 'everyone' sees things.

Well, you could make nothing of it. Eg, just say he’s going to an eye doctor to do some games about how he sees things.

I suppose I wonder why you’re having him tested? What is the value of knowing at this young age? Is it severe, eg, do you think he has achromatopsia - ie sees no colours - or a more “regular” form of colourblindness. As someone who has red-green colour blindness it has very little bearing on my life day to day (though don’t ask me for help picking carpets). I’ve never seen the need to have my son (whose genetics means he is certainly colour blind) formally tested, and see his and my different take on colours as a quirk.

@macaronip1e that's exactly the sort of thing I want to know, thank you. My grandfather had it and I have been looking out for signs. I found a website which basically describes the condition as a disability and SEN, and advises to get a diagnosis asap to make sure his school are equipped to help him.

I suppose I'm after reassurance that he's going to be ok, and life won't be too difficult for him.

@awsomer

How old is he?

Colour Vision Deficiency - how to explain to my 3 year old?

3 I should imagine.

@partofyoupoursoutofme well, if it’s reassuring it’s had no measurable impact on me or my dad. And I’ve never even thought to mention to the school my son is colourblind! In terms of impact on me, I mentioned carpets and I’m not a good judge on things like wall paint. I also struggle to pick out a small bit of colour from a larger other colour. For example, my OH mentioned yesterday that the berries were out on our holly bush. Until I was close up, I couldn’t see the small red berries against the green background. But these things are pretty trivial. Assuming it’s a regular form of colour blindness I really wouldn’t worry about the impact on your son!

Side note, on testing, I’m also not sure how practical or reliable it is on someone so young? Maybe there are specific tests for younger kids but any tests have done rely on good number recognition or picking up what I think are very subtle differences in colours which I think would be hard for a young child (though that might be the colour blindness!).

I'm severely colour blind. Thinking back to when i was young i didn't really notice that my vision was different. Its wants until i was around 8yo i was tested with all the kids at school that i was told i was colour blind. I remember the doctor telling me that i wouldn't be able to do certain jobs, pilot, police officer, electrician etc. Left school and trained/worked as an electrician for 6 years. Nobody every suspected i was colourblind, you just find a way. Day to day it doesn't affect me at all, just don't ask me to go buy paint for the living room.

@SgtSnuggleBum doesn't that depend on what colours you can't see what jobs you can't do?

[quote partofyoupoursoutofme]@macaronip1e that's exactly the sort of thing I want to know, thank you. My grandfather had it and I have been looking out for signs. I found a website which basically describes the condition as a disability and SEN, and advises to get a diagnosis asap to make sure his school are equipped to help him.

I suppose I'm after reassurance that he's going to be ok, and life won't be too difficult for him.[/quote]
One in twelve men are colourblind, I have never heard of it being described as a disability or SEN.

@SgtSnuggleBum my grandfather was an electrical engineer, he just got someone else to tell him the colour of the wires etc. Reassuring to hear you are doing a similar job nowadays, I just thought it wouldn't be allowed these days but pleased to hear you didn't need to disclose it.

My ds is quite severe I think, he thinks everything is grey except yellow and blue, except when he has learned the colour of a specific thing (green grass, red post van etc) he tries to hide it because he hates being wrong, so I want him to know he's not wrong, he just sees things differently to some people.

@RedMarauder not 100% sure. I'm only going on what the doctor told me at the time. This was the early 80s so thing have probably changed since then.

All I'm saying is being colourblind has never stopped me doing anything. I own an I.T. business and often have to install CAT6 cabling. 4 pairs of different colour wires. I always manage to get them in the right place. Colour Inspector App on my phone is very handy too.

One of my children is colour blind. Bog standard red/green. It doesn’t matter or impact us

I knew a very successful gent who couldn't see colour at all the only time it was an issue was when he collected my dsughter for swimming lessons I said what colours your car (so I could look out for it) he had no clue he said its a saab I HAD NO CLUE he beeped his horn instead 🤣

@Florencex my dh thinks it's not a big deal, and definitely not a disability. This website colourblindawareness.org thinks people suffer needlessly and find their own workarounds when they should be supported more.

Maybe as ds gets older I'll feel more like he can fend for himself. I just hate the thought of him sitting in nursery not understanding something when it's obvious to everyone else

@Florencex there is a massive range on the scale/severity of colourblindness. Dw is a V.I.Teacher (Vision Impairment) and i can assure you some of the kids she sees are off the scale compared to me. So yes it can be a disability/SEN issue.

The best thing to do is just take him for a test and don’t explain things to him until you know the results of the test.

In fact, if you start a big conversation with him about it at this stage, you may distort the results of the test, eg by convincing him that he won’t be able to do it.

Most colour vision tests you would use on a child would enable more or less everyone to see something, so if he goes in there assuming he won’t be able to do it, he may not give the answers the practitioner needs to be able to diagnose him.

Just wait and see what happens.

@Shoppingwithmother excellent point! I will do that, thanks.

My DS is colourblind and it’s not been an issue. All my children have said everything’s red or yellow or whatever colour they liked that day around that age until they were more confident. I wouldn’t worry about it and I only mentioned it to school in a passing comment after it was picked up in his eye test. My grandfather had it and he was a painter decorator.

Thanks everyone, you have helped!

I totally agree with all SgtSnuggleBum I am very colour blind and it only effects me when I am arguing with my husband over the colour of something! It’s all about perception what I see as green is different to what you see but I was taught to say green whenever I see that colour so it’s only apparent with subtle differences. You can do online assessments which my kids 2 of whom are colour blind and one isn’t find highly amusing!!

My DS is colourblind. He did appear to learn his colours normally but as my maternal grandfather was colourblind I was aware of the possibility. When he was five, I googled colourblind test and he couldn't see the numbers ( there is one with a picture not a number). I took him to have a standard eye test, which included a colourblind test and then referred him to the eye hospital. The eye hospital carried out more testing and gave him a diagnosis but seem happy that he could tell difference between green and red and discharged him. Apart from very small things like confusing blue/purple, orange/red and not being able to see pale pink it has not been a problem at all. I told his school and they wrote the names of the colours on his pencil crayons which helped.

Most colourblind people are completely unaware of it until and unless it turns up after testing for some career requirement

There's no reason to "explain" to a three yr old that he might have a different perception of colour from some other people.

I'd imagine there must be something designed for children (picture books, videos?) about colour blindness...

I think I'd just explain that sometimes people see things differently from others. There are different ways of seeing things, and that's okay. Since your grandfather also had colour blindness, that could be a great way of helping your son understand that it's "normal" and fine. If he knows (or you knew) someone who saw the way he does and was okay, it can help your son have faith that it's alright for him, too.

I'd definitely want to know more about what he can/can't see, but I'd try not to worry about it. Approach it more as a quirk. Like some people can curl their tongues and some can't. Well, he sees colour differently from most people. If he can see it as something interesting about himself, maybe he won't feel embarrassed about it at nursery, etc.

My husband is severely colour blind and is hasn't disadvantaged him at all. I think he found out because they did a test when he was at primary school. I did find it a bit depressing when I watched a video that shows you the world through their eyes.