Gordy has always struggled with colors. He mixes up green, orange, and brown very frequently. Purple is always blue. Pastels are a no-go for him. But yellow (mele mele) has always been his favorite color. So, we finally decided to get him tested. The pediatric ophthalmologist only flipped through three of her thirty color cards before calling it quits and agreeing that he is color blind. His blindness is called "strong protan" and here's what he sees vs. what a person with normal vision sees:
Once we were sure of his diagnosis, I did quite a bit of reading about it and here's what I learned:
- He sees mainly blues, yellows and greys.
- Since he doesn't see other colors the way we do, he has learned to know that shades of blues, yellows and greys are what those colors look like.
- There are glasses available that can help him to see reds and greens. However, if we introduce him to the glasses too early, he may become reliant on them and may have trouble distinguishing colors on his own. So, we are going to hold off on getting him glasses.
- I read a blog from another mom with a color bind kid, who recommended talking to the color bind kid and explaining to him that he sees colors in a different way than other people. That the way he sees it is not wrong, it's just different. And, if he's ever unsure about what color something is, he should ask someone what color they see (like how daddy has to ask mommy if his shirt smells because his nose works differently than most... the answer is almost always yes).
- That same mom recommended going into school on the first day (or two) and having a look around the classroom for anything that may be challenging for the kid due to color. She recommended not only letting the teacher know about the blindness, but offering to help out with making things more about shapes and pictures in lieu of colors.
After the color blindness had been established, Gordy's eye exam was not quite over... with an occurrence of Retinitis Pigmentosa on the paternal side of my family, his eyes needed to be dilated to check for the RP freckles. Thankfully, I had prepared for such an event and we had practiced eye drops the day before because he had five rounds of drops in his eyes. He took the drops like a little champ (let's be clear, he was not happy about it though) and tolerated the entire exam with no complaints.
