I've been starting to worry that the the PiperCub is colour-blind...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

He’s approaching 3, and very talkative, but I’ve noticed that he never seem to identify green things in story books. I’d say, “Where’s the green [whatever]?” and get the reply, “Dunno.”

I thought, “Hmmm. Trouble seeing green? Better watch this.”

But then I noticed that he readily identified red, blue and yellow things, so that didn’t seem like colour-blindness. But why couldn’t he see green things??

Things came together, however, at indoor soccer. It’s in a school gym that lets the munchkins use it on weekends. Since it’s a temporary use, the crease for the goal is marked out in light green painter’s tape, easily removable.

I was showing the crease line to the Cub, and explained that when the goalie had the ball, the Cub couldn’t cross the crease line.

The Cub looked down and said, “Can’t cross the GoRider line?”

The penny dropped!

When you’ve been going to Saskatchewan Roughrider games since you were 8 weeks old, and watching the away games on tv, and getting your very own junior Riders jersey signed by Gainer the Gopher himself, and hearing your parents and uncles and aunts and friends in the stands all yelling “Go Riders!!”, naturally you would associate green with “Go Riders!”

It’s a bit odd that it’s to the point where the name of the colour has been completely supplanted in your three year old brain, but understandable.

So I said, “That’s right - can’t cross the GoRider line!”

And now I understand why, when we’re driving around, he keeps saying, “There’s a GoRider!” There are an awful lot of traffic signs that are coloured [del]green[/del] GoRider. :stuck_out_tongue:

2

My daughter, who is about the same age, has trouble remembering some color names but not others and in particular mixes up red and green regularly. I’m assuming this will sort itself out with a little practice and encouragement as she gets older; color-blindness is not really an option here.

3

I will note that two forms of colorblindness that primarily affects the perception of green: deuteranopia (inability to see green), and deuteranomaly (impaired ability to see green).

And yes, woman certainly can be colorblind - I happen to be a woman with deuteranomaly. Obviously, my father has it as well, and my mother is a carrier (several of her male relatives had it). Fortunately, in my case the impairment is relatively mild and wasn’t discovered until I applied for a pilot’s license in my 30’s. But yeah, life long there was always that puzzlement why I would identify something yellow-green as yellow, or why some other “green” shades looked blue to me. BRIGHT green, no problem, that’s green, but the sort of khaki coat I own that everyone else says is a shade of green? That looks brown to me.

Yes, much of the time color confusion has to do with names and labels, not perception, but if it persists sure, it could be colorblindness.

4

You can’t answer that question unless you take him to a specialist.

Broomstick deuteranopia/anomaly are extremely difficult for someone to distinguish from protanopia/anomaly unless they are trained and have specialized equipment. The color gamut seen by both is nearly identical, except deutans generally have better brightness perception. A specialist could break it down.

To the OP, as Broomstick says, individuals with deuteranomaly and similar often don’t notice it until later. Their visual system is able to compensate for only slightly impoverished input, but it is in very specific situations where a possibility of confusion between colors arises.

If your son were deuteranomalous, he isn’t exactly lost part of society - possibly 8% of males are deuteranomalous.

5

What a sad, sad story. With luck and therapy, he might be able to learn the correct word for green and eliminate the phrase “GoRider” from his vocabulary altogether. I wouldn’t want him to suffer the shame and embarrassment of uttering those words in public for the rest of his life.

:wink:

Go Als Go!

Right now, I hate that the grinny faced smiley is green. Stupid smiley :mad:

6

:smiley: :smiley: :smiley:
GoRiders!

But count the guys on the field first.

7

We’ve been commenting lately on how lovely the forest across the canal looks because it’s such a lovely shade of GoRider!

8

Yeah, I was going to ask about that. How are PiperCub’s numberscoming along?

9

If he were older, I’d say it’s confusion between Roughrider Green and Rough Rider Black. I would prescribe intensive space-detection training.

10

Hmmm … this could be interesting if we follow it enough.

“I had hoped to get through the intersection, but the GoCats appeared long before I got there, so I had to sit at the GoStamps. Finally, the light went GoRider, and I could continue on my way. Not that I minded waiting at the light; it was a beautiful day with the sun shining in a bright ARRR-GOS! sky.”

11

I officially concede that the OP is more Saskatchewanian than I am.

12

No, no - since the discovery, we’ve been working on his vocabulary, and explaining that when the traffic light is coloured StopStampsStop, we have to stop, and we can only go when it’s GoRiders colour.

:stuck_out_tongue:

13

So what happens with the flashing GoRiders arrow appears? Run for the sidelines?

:smiley:

14

I can now stop posting. Nothing I may achieve on this board in the future will top that.

15

It’a a lateral, natch. :stuck_out_tongue:

16

You know, I used to think that mnemosyne was a nice, friendly person, but I’ve gradually realised she has a cruel streak. :eek:

17

I’m pleased to report that the indoctrination is taking.

The other day we were driving down Albert Street and came to a green light. PiperCub said: “Go Riders!”

Then we came to a red light, and he spontaneously started chanting: “Stop the Stamps! Stop the Stamps!”

Mrs Piper was most pleased with my efforts.

:stuck_out_tongue:

18

Oh dear … I’ve created a monster.

19

An update.

The Cub has been watching a lot of the Backyardigans recently; his favourite is Robot Rampage, for which we have the DVD.

For those of you not in the know, in Robot Rampage, the evil Professor Bug (Pablo) is taking over control of all the robots in Mega City, one robot at a time.

We were driving somewhere and I asked the Cub why he liked that DVD so much.

Response from the back seat: “Because the Good Robots are GoRiders and the Bad Robots are Stop Stamps!”

I had to think about that for a minute. Then I realised that the robots that function normally have green eyes, but once Professor Bug takes them over, their eyes turn red!

So, the StopStamps are the Bad Robots. All perfectly logical in the Cub’s world.

Then, from the back seat, I hear him say, “Bwahhhaaa!” just like Professor Bug. A bit disconcerting.

20

It’s because the Admins, the Mods, and Jerry the Tech Guy are all Rider supporters, of course!