Health

Early Testing For Colorblindness In Children

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Did you know we are all born colorblind? We don't start to see different colors until about four months of age. But not all of us end up able to see every shade of the rainbow. And it can cause issues if it goes unnoticed.

Tyler Grothe is just a little guy - interested in normal two-year-old things.

"His hobbies are watching Mickey Mouse on TV, singing, reading books," said Jackie Grothe, Mother.

He seems fine, but his mother has a nagging concern about his vision because others in her family are colorblind. It's a condition that affects about 8 percent of boys, and 1 percent of girls. The children can't see certain colors - such as red or green - but often, cases go undetected for quite some time. That can make quite a difference in school.

"The teacher might think the child doesn't understand something," said Dr. Gregg Lueder, MD, Pediatric Ophthalmologist. "They think they can't draw with a pencil or they can't recognize the object they're looking at."

But you don't have to wait until grade school to find out if there's an issue. The test is simple - and can take just minutes.

"The color test has some figure embedded in a background of color," Dr. Lueder said.

Older children are shown a test that has numbers to detect, but now, even preschoolers who don't know their numbers yet can be tested.

"They can either trace the number with their finger and then we know they see it, or we can use shapes like a triangle, a circle, something that a younger child would recognize," Dr. Lueder said.

If they can't distinguish the number or shape from the background, odds are they are colorblind. A parent can do the initial paper test, but an eye doctor should confirm the results. In most cases, it's genetic.

"There are a few rare things that can cause color vision difficulties but those are rare," Dr. Lueder said. "We do an exam to make sure the child doesn't have that."

Tyler's mom is relieved his vision is fine. She encourages other parents to do this important eye test early.

"So that you can be mindful of what your child can and can't see and just help them," said Jackie Grothe, Tyler's mother.

There is no cure, but being colorblind typically doesn't interfere with life, other than excluding a couple professions that require seeing colors such as red and green.

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