How can teachers help if a child has a color deficiency?

Posted by teacher on June 20, 2011

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

b. Label coloring utensils (crayons, colored pencils, and pens) with the name of the color.

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

d. 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.

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

f. 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.

g. 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”.

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