Learning Colors

I too learned in school only males can be colored blind.
I am also a preschool teacher and when she gets dressed ask her which shirt she wants to wear. Or what she wants to eat. I would have a green shirt or kiwi or green apple broccali along with her favorite food, maybe a piece of candy and then ask her what color food she wants. She will quickly realize she needs to know another color besides green :)

I asked my husband who is a bio. major and he said that girls could not be colored blind. I had a similar problem with my daughter at 18 months old. I thought she new her abc, numbers to 20, memorized songs, but colors where very hard for her. Everyone told me she was to young not to worry, but I was worried. I bought her color book which she loved and I would read it to her everyday and tell her the colors it only took about 2 weeks to learn them. When I wanted her to give me something I would ask her to hand me that blue block or whatever it was. By telling her the color she was able to recognize what each color looked like. We even played a game in the car when a vehicle passed by I would ask her what color is that vehicle and she would tell. She is now 22 months old and that is her favorite car game. I think the more you make a game of it the easier it is for them to learn good luck.

My daughter did the same thing. She would say everything was pink, so one day when we were walking down the stairs I asked the color of something and she said the right one. I knew at that time she was just being strong willed as usual, but she knew her colors. You just have to catch her at a time when she has her guard down. Have a good day!

If you really think she might have gotten the second gene from your side of the family, you can call ECI and ask if they have a listing of pediatric eye doctors to refer you to, or if they could come to your house and test her. ECI only works with children until they are 3, but if she will need additional assistance in school, it's MUCH easier to get it if she's been in ECI.

Keep working with her in the meantime...it sounds like you're doing a great job already!!

I would go ahead and get her eyes checked by an opthalmologist. As far as pushing anymore academics, she is way ahead and does things most 4 year olds don't do. Let her be kid for awhile.

To answer your question about it being passed on. Color blindness can be inherited or acquired (due to damage). You could google this trait and find all sorts of info on it. There are many forms of inherited colorblindness. It is a recessive trait, and found on the X chromosome (so it is sex-linked or X-linked, not autosomal). So this means it will show up in males more often than females because males only have one X chromosome & therefore they will express whatever traits are on that X. Since females have 2 X chromosomes, they would need to have the recessive trait on both X chromosomes in order to be expressed. So in your case, you would have to be a carrier (one of your X chromosomes carrying the trait) AND you would have to have passed it on to your daughter. Is there colorblindness on your side of the family? If not, chances are you are not even a carrier.
Learning colors requires the right "connections" to have been established in her brain. The brain takes years to create new synapses and to establish sensory connections. She is young to know her colors. That is not to say they cannot learn them now, some can, some can't. To my son, everything was blue (he is 2 years old as well), but we just casually reinforced colors and now he knows red, blue, green, yellow, orange and purple. He still makes mistakes every now and then. She'll learn them soon, and in a year or so if you are still worried, then ask your ped. about testing, etc.

My princess is 2.5 years old and has just learned her colors.

I had the exact same worry for my son who turned 2 at the end of March. There was an Early Childhood Intervention specialist doing free developmental screenings at our local library, so I ask her about it. She wasn't at all concerned about his ability (rather inability) to distinguish colors. I think they're closer to 3 before that's expected. I don't know why color differentiation comes along at a different pace, but even if kids are advanced in other areas, this particular thing can seem to lag behind.

As far as colorblindness being passed down, it is what is called an "X-linked" trait, which means it is carried on the X chromosome. It's also recessive, so because girls have two X chromosomes, it takes two "colorblind" Xs for her to show the trait. If you also have colorblindness in your family, there's chance you are also a carrier and, if so, a 50/50 chance that your daughter could be colorblind.

K.,
I was in your exact situation. My daughter also very verbally advanced and perceptive, however, colors were completely a miss for her. I think this is something they just do not see the point in. An object already has one name why add a reference? But to answer your question colorblindness is a autosomal recessive trait thereby there would be be a paternal and maternal gene contributor in order for her to be colorblind. My daughter is 2 and a half now and finally getting it. We just continue to work with her but still a lot of times when we ask colors she still says its "green and yellow". good luck. R.

My father and several males on his side of the family are colorblind. I have one son who is definately red-green colorblind (8), we're pretty sure our 5 yr old is also red-green colorblind, and it'll be some time before we can "test" our 2 yr old son to see if he's colorblind.

If you think your daughter is colorblind, here are a few online tests -- but she has to know her shapes for these:

http://colorvisiontesting.com/online%20test.htm

http://www.schoolhealth.com/shop/pe_11115.asp

The optometrist also has these tests.

It's possible for her to be colorblind - but it could also just been "confusion" --- when we sit down to teach our children colors, we typically use solid bold colors, but b/c each color has so many variations -- green is green, olive, dark green , light green, etc. So it can get really confusing for little ones because colors aren't a difinitive thing. It's easier to learn letters and numbers b/c they just "are" as opposed to "variations" of something.

According to many of the readings and with my doctor, children really do not learn colors until they are three. My son, 3 now, learned them around 2 and half because of the Power Rangers. I only let him watch this with me and actually the show is not so bad. Beside the point, each character is a color. I just noticed after about a month he new his colors and the only thing I could think of was this show. Mind you, I am a teacher and am constantly applying learning skills to our daily routine, but I had the same problem wanting him to learn them early. Everything was always blue. Give it time! If you notice others learning early, sometimes those kiddos are in a program (not always).

Hi there! I just had this conversation with our pediatrician. My son turned two in late June and knows his ABCs and the right sounds they make, most shapes, can count to 12.....but colors always get him. She said that it is unusual for a 2 year old to know their colors....that happens closer to 3 years. So, your daughter is doing GREAT to know what she knows already!!!! I would just say that when she gets a color wrong...say with a big smile and say that is a ________ (color) _______object. Repetition, repetition...... Again...don't stress...it is not developmentally typical for her to know her colors yet. Sounds like a smart little girl!!!

They will test her for color blindness when she is a little older as part of routine check up.

My husband is color blind too....can't see reds and greens.

Use blocks or something and every time she puts them in say the color she will get it. G. W

My daughter turned 2 in March and goes to a daycare academy and knows her abc and can count in english and spanish. I would also ask her what color something was and would say purple for everything or go hmmmm purple. I wondered if she knew her colors at all, but now I know she does. When I ask her what color something is she does not always say the right color. BUT when she points to something and says that is red, or whatever she is right. I don't think they think about what color they are saying when you ask them, maybe they we put them on the spot and they say whatever. Just give her time and let her point to colors herself and tell you.

My situation was exactly like your's. My husband is color blind, my daughter could count, say ABC's, talk very well, etc. at age 2. Colors was a little later. She is now 2 years 9 months and knows many colors. Just give it time.

I don't know much about the color blind thing...but I think it skips generations and is mostly passed on from the grandfather???? Not sure about that though.

In order for your daughter to be color blind her father would have to be color blind and you would have to carry the gene for color blindness. My son is also 2, and ironically enough, he also says every color is green. LOLOL

www.hhmi.org/senses/b130.html

This is a website you can go to which has some information on men being colorblind. There are many of them if you google for info. They have proven that men have a much higher percentage of being colorblind vs. woman, and it is due to chromosomes that men have. I researched this at one time because i have many men in our family that are colorblind, and no woman.

Hope this helps.

D. Godfrey

K.,

It looks like you got a lot of responses! I have taught children for 7 years, and just to let you know that there is a difference in learning abc's and colors. Learning ABC's is just repetition, and colors are quite a bit harder. Here is a way you can work with her.

Get several different colored blocks. Make sure you do these steps in order, and don't go to the next step until she has mastered the previous.

1.) Hold up a (blue) block, and ask her to fine another (blue) block in the pile.

2.) Without holding a block, ask her to find a (blue) block.

3.) Hold a (blue) block, and ask her what color it is.

I hope this helps out. You will be so excited when she gets it, and remember, have fun.

saw you had several responses, but thought you would like to know that though color-blindness can be handed down, it is far more likely to occur in males than females. And being so young and a girl, I wouldn't worry about it as yet. But, as always, if it makes you feel better, talk to your dr.
I know the color-blind info because family friends of ours have it in their family and they have told us what their dr. told them. And yes, all that have it in their family happen to be male (they have 2 girls w/o it and 4 boys, 2 with it and the father has it).

T.

i think knowing colors is a more difficult concept to grasp because they are not constant. for example, a flower or shirt can be white, red, yellow, purple, etc... colors are used as adjectives, like big and little.
that being said, a couple of months ago i decided to teach my daughter her colors (she will be 2 in september). i realize it's not something she has to know, i just felt like it would be useful information for her to have. i basically talked about the color of things all day long (elmo is red, would you like some yellow banana, we are going to put on your pink shirt). i used to teach kindergarten, so i got out some of the materials i used with my kids. she loves playing with these large, plastic buttons i bought for sorting (she's not into putting things into her mouth anymore, so i wasn't worried about her choking). i noticed that she already knew the color black and would pick them out and put them in a group together. then i started picking up the red ones, saying red, and putting them in another group. i did this several times and asked her to help. i would talk about other things that she is familiar with that were the color we were looking for. we played like this for about 2 weeks, talked about colors all day and i was amazed because she knew them. we still talk about colors and she has fun pointing them out. i just made identifying the color of things a part of our everyday conversations and even though she knows them perfectly now, we still talk about them all of the time. in my experience, as long as you make learning anything fun and just part of your day, it will happen. we didn't sit down with some paper and crayons or flashcards and work on memorizing colors.
i would also ask the daycare to see what they are doing with her at school. good luck :)

Hi Kristy! Color blindness is hereditary and it usually effects males more so than womnen. However, if your husband is color blind your daughter my be too. There are simple tests I'm sure you can find online but she would need to be able to recognize letters and numbers. Hope that helps!

A.

Don't sweat it. My son who knows his ABC's, numbers, colors etc. often gets irritated when we ask him to "perform" and will either say the wrong color on purpose or will just ignore us or say "I don't know". I talked with the teacher at his MDO and she assured me that he ABSOLUTELY knows his colors! I wanted to be sure, so I got some Hershey's Kissables and I got one of each color out and told him that if he could tell me the color than he could eat them. Of course, he knew his colors then without hesitation! I would not even worry about it!

That is so neat that your daughter turned 2 in May because so did my daughter! Anyhow, I have been working with her on colors as well, and the method I use is painting her toenails a new color each week. I don't know how you feel about doing that so early, but it worked for me. She knows blue, green, pink, red, purple, & yellow, just to name a few. Now she points to the colors and says the name when she sees them.

Yes, Color Blindness can be passed down. It has been present in 4 generations in my family. My sister and I were missed but my cousins 3 weren't. All coming from my Grandfather's side. It is just like if a parent wore glasses at a young age the chances of their child needing glasses increases, when both parents need glasses it doubles. Your daughter seems very smart for her age in her speaking, knowing her ABC's, and counting the colors would be even easier. Most children will learn colors and picture words dog, cat, etc. first. Being that she is only 2 it may take a while before a diagnosed properly. Ask your doctor about seeing a specialist in this area. Even if she is color blind it will not limit her she already seems very bright in her learnings.

About me- I am the Mother of a wonderful 11 year old daughter. Time goes so fast and I would give anything to have her 2 again because it is such a wonderful age. I am a Director for NAMICCO The National Alliance On Mental Illness for Collin County. Most and formost I love being a MOM! I also have two great step-daughters 15 and 19.

I thought the same thing of my son when every thing was the same color for so long. There are a couple of websites you can go to that have short tests for pediatric color blindness. They have shapes within shapes that are similar in color but if the child can make out the inside shape/picture that means their eyes can see the difference in the colors even though they are very similar. I think I just did a google search for pediatric color blind test. Good luck!