Color Blindness in Children
Color blindness is not a black and white with shades of gray vision condition, and when children are color blind, it’s a common misconception that they can only see the world in black, white, and shades of gray.
If your child is color blind, or you suspect they are, it’s important to learn as much about the vision deficiency as you can to best meet their needs.
As a team of experienced pediatric eye doctors, we’re here to help. Through a quick and painless pediatric eye exam that will include a child color blind test, we can uncover ways to support your child’s vision moving forward.
Did You Know?
Color blindness affects:
- Over 300 million people worldwide
- 1 in 12 males
- 1 in 200 females
What is Color Blindness?
Color blindness, which is also known as color deficiency, is the inability to see certain colors.
Our eyes have color-sensing pigments in nerve cells that pick up red, blue, or green light.
Children with color blindness lack some or all of these pigments.
When one pigment is missing, it can be hard for a child (or adult) to distinguish between red and green or between blue and yellow.
Types of Color Blindness
Achromatopsia is the most severe form of color blindness. While rare, a child with this vision deficiency cannot see any color; everything is in shades of gray.
Red-green color blindness is the most common type of color blindness. When a child is red-green color blind, dark reds and dark greens tend to appear gray or brown.
Blue-yellow color blindness is a more rare form. When a child is blue-yellow color blind, blue appears green, and yellow appears violet
Signs Your Child is Color Blind
Because color blindness is not blindness at all, but, rather, a condition that prevents a child from distinguishing between certain colors, symptoms of color blindness are usually noticed when a child begins to learn their colors.
Some signs your child is color blind include:
- The ability to see some colors but not others
- Confusion of certain colors or shades of colors
- Difficulty recognizing red or green crayons
- Seeing green and red as gray or brown
- Using the wrong colors when coloring an object – such as orange grass
- Reduced attention for coloring worksheets
- Can only see black, white, and gray
- Denial of color difficulties
- Sensitivity to bright lights
- Excellent sense of smell
- Difficulty reading words on colored pages or with colored text
- Increased difficulty recognizing colors in dimmer lighting, smaller colored sections, and colors of the same shade
- Refusal to participate in sorting or counting games with colored objects
- Headaches after staring at red text on a green background, or vice versa
How Color Blindness is Diagnosed: Child Color Blind Test
A child color blind test will measure how well a child recognizes different colors.
- One child color blind test includes looking at sets of colored dots. The child is then asked to try and find a pattern in the dots, like a letter or number. The patterns help the eye doctor know which colors the child is having trouble seeing.
- Another child color blind test includes arranging colored chips in order according to how similar the colors are. Children with color vision problems cannot arrange the colored chips correctly.
While colorblindness can be inconvenient for a child, the vision condition usually doesn’t prevent a child from reaching milestones or participating in daily activities.
However, it’s vital to know that color blindness can affect a child’s learning abilities and reading development.
How is Color Blindness Treated?
Most color vision problems are inherited (genetic) and, therefore, present at birth. Unfortunately, inherited color blindness is a lifelong condition and cannot be treated or corrected.
For children with red-green color deficiency, no treatment is needed. They may be aware that they don’t see colors the way others do, but they are able to function normally.
Ways to help make up for a color vision problem in children include:
- For certain types of color blindness, color blindness correcting glasses have been developed and help some children/individuals improve their ability to distinguish colors.
- Glasses that block glare and reduce brightness can help children with severe color vision problems better see differences between colors.
- Teaching a child to look for cues, like brightness or location, rather than colors.
Is Your Child Color Blind? Do You Suspect They Are?
The sooner you know there is a color vision deficiency, the sooner you can help your child.
A child as young as six months old would benefit from a comprehensive pediatric eye exam, and to specifically detect color blindness, we recommend eye exams for children between ages 3 and 5.
Children can thrive despite a vision condition. Let us ensure that your child’s vision is fully understood and supporting his or her living and learning needs.
