Ds2 is definitely red/green colourblind

[colditz]

How do I approach this>?

I was suspicious when he still hadn't learned his colours by the age of 4.5, and I voiced my suspicions to his teacher when he started school, and they've been very good, but is there anything else I need to do? Does he need a diagnosis? Should I go to the optician? Special glasses? Something on his school records?

I'm genuinely not surprised - my brother is colourblind.

My DS always got red and green mixed up - right up til about 7, when he just got it. They are opposite on the colour spectrum and apparently are easy for young children to mix up. How old is your DS? He may still grow out of it.

How old is he now? I have suspicion about my DS2 although he is only 2.5 so I know it is too early to even investigate it. He knows all his colours (even obscure ones like pink, purple, orange etc) but show him something red or green and he has absolutely no idea.

No advice as I am obviously not anywhere near your point yet but will watch this thread with interest

he's five.

And I've given him the online ishikara tests and he really cannot see the numbers that colourblind people can't see - yet sees the 'universal' numbers fine.

My DS is 8 and colour blind, it was picked up by an optician about a year ago. I hadn't noticed but now I know, certain things make sense- he's never been good at jigsaws for example and often walks into our village noticeboard- Greyish brown board with green trees in the mid distance behind it! I've not done anything as apparently 1:12 boys are similarly colour blind, I mentioned it to his teacher but I have to say, as a teacher myself, nobody has ever told me their child is colorblind ( 17 years of teaching) and I've obviously taught colour blind children.

Colditz, I really wouldn't do anything. There are certain careers he's not allowed to do, such as airline pilot and electronic engineering so it may be as well to find out if resrictions apply to a career he'd like.

There are coloured lenses and contact lenses available but most optoms I know that have the trial set find there is not much demand. Chromagen

Putting something on his school record is sensible, maybe not for now but for when he is older.

As a science teacher I taught a boy with total colourblindness and some science topics rely on colour perception, like acid/alkali tests using universal indicator, chemical tests for glucose, starch etc and students are actually tested on knowing the correct colour that is seen in these cases, not just by naming the colour but by colouring in or indicating the correct part of a range of colours. It is useful as a teacher to know about this sort of thing. Colour blindness can also cause problems with interpreting maps in geography.

Hm, hadn't really thought about litmus test and maps etc, just DS's ability to put the composting in the right dustbin!

A little bit of genetics might help... red/green colour blindness is linked to a gene on the x chromosome.

Assuming you mother and father are not colourblind themselves - your brother will have inherited his "faulty" X chromosome from your mother, who has another "normal" X chromosome to make up for it.

• you have a 50% chance of carrying the faulty gene on one of your X chromosomes (depending on which one you got from your mother who has 2 Xs). If you have the "faulty" one there is a 50% chance you have passed it to your ds. So it's not definate in fact there's only a 1/4 chance he has it (from a genetics point of view). But you are probably wise to keep an eye on it.

I know my ds has a 50% chance of having it so I will observe him carefully!

Apologies if this has just confused things for you!

both my boys are colourblind, one more than the other, I have let the school know , but it really doesnt affect them at primary age. they just cant be fighter pilots (no problem there!). my dad is colourblind, so no great surprise. it is really not a big deal for us. hope this helps xx

lu9months- can i ask do your boys know the names of colours in general. my son is 4.7 and still can only id white and then guesses the others. am sure he is colourblind as my father is- but i think he might be "more" colourblind-if that makes sense, have done tests online and he cant see the pictures-asked him to id smarty colours and he cant he can tell if one is more shiny or mat or faded than another-can obviously see shades but not distinct colours and when did smarties he put orange and greens and reds together,

yes they do recognise colours, and only have problems with muddy shades of green ; the older one has problems with some purply blues too. I would take them to the optician for a full assessment, to exclude any other visual problems. our high street optician did a very thorough assessment of my children from about the age of around 4 and was very helpful. good luck!

My DS also learned his colours as normal which is probably why we didn't suspect he was colour blind. He has problems with blue and green and with Greyish shades of green, it's more that he can't pick things out if the colours he struggles with are next to each other, so would struggle to pick out a something khaki coloured against a brighter green background, he also often gets the colours of dustbins (green, brown, blue round here) wrong, but can tell the colours when they're near each other and he's looked at them for a while.