May 28 2009
Is your child colorblind?
I was supposed to share some photos of Isabel’s birthday, but got distracted a bit on this topic…
For a long time, I was concerned whether Ian is colorblind. I convinced myself that he was only confused about the concept of color, which is common amongst young kids.
Early this week, I got a milk company’s promo booklet for Isabel. There is are 4 Ishihara colorblind test charts (like pic below). To my dismay, he couldn’t read ANY of them.
I spent some time researching this topic, and found that, many colorblinds are not really total ‘blind’ in colors. Many can still see lots of colors, but their ability to differentiate some, would be difficult.
So, last night, instead of updating post about Isabel’s birthday, we did the full test of the 24 Ishihara discs. The result was quite confusing. Ian could read about 3, but not able to read the rest.
Here is his test result:
1. 12 (anyone can do that, it is control disc)
2. 3
3. 29
4. Nothing (only dots)
5. Nothing
6. Nothing
7. Nothing
8. Nothing
9. Nothing
10. Nothing
11. Nothing
12. Nothing
13. Nothing
14. Nothing
15. Nothing
16. 6
17. 2
18. 1 line – purple line only
19. Nothing
20. Nothing
21. Nothing
22. Line tracing the blue-green dots, but not the yellow-green dots.
23. Line travcing the purple dots, but not the orange dots.
24. Got it (anyone can do – control cell)
I am only hopeful that the test is not conclusive because we used a computer, and the monitor screen may have altered the appearance of shades of color.
I think I have also scared him with the tests, although I keep telling him that we are playing a ‘treasure hunt’ game, trying to find numbers in the dots. So, I will park this issue aside, but will discuss with our doctor. Maybe when he is slightly older, I will bring him to a specialist.
Here are some interesting and useful sites that I came across on this topic:
1. Colblindor
This site’s owner, I think, is also a colorblind, that’s why he offers some very interesting insights.
He also provides a colorblind simulator. It helps us to understand the world of a colorblind. Example, in a Red-Weak/Protanomaly case, photo on the left will look like the right below:
2. Ishihara set of 24 colorblind test charts
This is what I used last night. There are many methods, but this one is widely used. There is instruction too on this page.
3. New Pediatric Color Vision Test
This one is specially designed for kids 3-6 years old. Something similar to the Ishihara discs, but they use shapes instead of numbers, claimed to be 100% accurate. But the website only offer a glimpse into the first 3 slides. The rest need to be purchased. Ian could read all the 3, but the result is not conclusive unless the whole set is used.
Whatever it is, we are advised to see a specialist instead of doing own testings, if we suspect our kids have colorblind. I will do that, but not now. Let Ian forget about this first. I don’t want this to be a bad experience for him. Even if he is colorblind, I don’t want him to feel handicap. He is smart, he is joyful, he is active… and he is proud of himself. He is also very kiasu. I can’t imagine if he knows there is something he cannot do… how upset could he be.
Pray God that the tests are not conclusive. Pray God that the tests are not accurate!!!
It doens’t sound as bad if you refer to the condition by it’s original name: Daltonism. It was named for John Dalton, the British mathematician who first self-diagnosed it.
Suzette, I agree with Trooper that it’s really not a big problem as long as your son is aware of his own limitation and does not do stuff that involves dealing with complex colour code (e.g. electrical wiring or becoming an electrical engineer) – I’m a red-green colour blind myself.
For men, red-green colour blindness is the most common type and is usually a genetic problem inherited from the mother’s x-chromosome. Women may be a carrier of colour blind gene and yet they can see all colours perfectly. This is because colour blind is a recessive gene, therefore, for women to be colour blind, they need the colour blind genes to be present in both thier x-chromosomes (from their mother and father). If they have one recessive colour blind gene present in one of the x-chromosome, they are not colour blind themselves because the non-colour blind gene in the other x-chromosome is more dominant. In most cases, they do not know that they are a carrier of the colour blind gene until they have a son who is colour blind or unless they go for DNA test. If you are a carrier, you may find that either some of your brothers are colour blind (i.e. your mother is also a carrier) or your dad himself is a colour blind.
Also check out: http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=304&id=1860#3.
Trooper Thorn: First time heard of Daltonism. Sounds nothing like colorblind! And you are right, the name is so misleading – colorblind, like completely monochrome… Ian is not aware that he cannot see some colors, although he is quite confused with some.
Simon: Thanks for sharing this. My husband told me about it being in one of the chromosome, and now you mentioned it, it sounds logic, and why it is more prominent in males than females. Actually we are quite puzzled where it comes from, coz none of our family members nor ancestors are colorblind. But then, we cannot be 100% sure, given that tests are not used on everyone. It kind of make me feel bad, for causing him this. I do hope the test results are non-conclusive, since I didn’t do it in printed version and with direct natural light… :p
Reading this article make me smile. I remembered when I went to the university. I must past this test!
Another Blogger: Why?? I didn’t know there is such prerequisite to enter the U?!
[...] wrote about my suspect on Ian being colorblind earlier. Someone left a comment discussing the inheritance of the colorblind gene in the X [...]
I agree with Trooper that it’s really not a big problem as long as your son is aware of his own limitation and does not do stuff that involves dealing with complex colour code (e.g. electrical wiring or becoming an electrical engineer) – I’m a red-green colour blind myself.
Tatang Sulaeman: Agree! That’s why I strongly feel that we should let him know asap. I’m so happy even the doc also agrees with me that we should inform and explain to my son. BTW, it is confirmed that my son is red-green color blind.