Colour Vision in Children

Many school activities today involve color-enhanced instructional materials. Consequently having normal color vision or being colorblind, plays a big part in our educational system. It is important that teachers and parents understand the special needs of color deficient children and what can be done to help them in their quest to learn. Below is a list of what teachers and parents can do to assist in the learning of colour vision deficient children.

For information on the different types of colour vision deficiencies and the causes of colour vision deficiency, please visit the " colour vision" page in the " your eye" section of our website or simply click here.

Examples of how colour vision deficiency can cause problem at school

1.  John is working in his reading workbook. The directions to one  item say to draw a line to the red ball. The other ball is brown. Both colors look alike to John, so he guesses. The teacher reminds him not to be careless.

2.  A teacher is writing vocabulary words on a green chalk board with yellow chalk in mid-afternoon. There is a glare on the board from unshaded windows. Peter is sitting so that the glare diminishes the figure-ground contrast. The teacher wonders why he is copying from a neighbor's paper.

3.  Tommy ordinarily seems to enjoy reading aloud. Today, however, he doesn't volunteer and balks when the teacher calls on him to read. The poem in the reader is printed in blue on a purple background.

4.  Susan, a bright and articulate youngster, was asked to go to the front of the class and read from the blue green book on the teachers' desk.  She went to the front of  the class and  just stood there looking at the pile of different colored books. Not knowing which one to pickup, she started to cry.

5.  T.J. was very out going in pre-school & kindergarten. He loved to wave his arms and volunteer to answer questions the teacher asked. The only time he did not volunteer answers was when it came to learning or identifying his colors. A lot of the colors looked the same to him. They just had different names.

                            Normal                          Colour Vision Defficient

        source: http://colorvisiontesting.com/color4.htm

How can teachers help if a child has colour vision defficiency?

1) Label a picture with words or symbols when the response requires color recognition.

2)  Label coloring utensils (crayons, colored pencils, and pens) with the name of the color. So the child will not fall behind in art, or struggle, make sure everything is appropriately marked.

3) Use white chalk, not colored chalk, on the board to maximize contrast. Avoid yellow, orange, or light tan chalk on green chalkboards.

4) Xerox parts of textbooks or any instructional materials printed with colored ink. Black print on red  or green paper is not safe. It may appear as black on black to some color deficient students.

5) Assign a classmate to help color deficient  students when assignments require color recognition. Example - color coding different countries on a world map.

6)  Teach color deficient students the color of common objects. Knowing what color things are can help them in their daily tasks. Example: when asked to color a picture, they will know to use the crayon "labeled" green for the grass, blue for the sky, and light tan for Lincoln's face.

7) Try teaching children "all" the colors. Remember, most color deficient children can identify pure primary colors. It is normally just different shades or tints that give them problems. If they can not learn certain colors, let them know you understand some colors look the same to them and it is "OK".

8) Be patient with colorblind students on classroom activities. It’s easy to get frustrated or think a child is not trying when they guess on certain activities. If a child has not been diagnosed, yet you see them panicking when asked to work with pie charts or color coded maps, insist that child be tested for color blindness.  

9) Make sure a child's color vision has been tested before they have to learn their colors or color-enhanced instructional materials are used.

10) Teach what colorblindness is. Children who do not suffer from colorblindness will have a hard time understanding what it is. There are tests you can use to show a child how things look to a child that sees normally versus a child that cannot see all colors properly.