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Visual realism in the drawings of autistic, Down's syndrome and normal children

1994; Wiley; Volume: 12; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.2044-835x.1994.tb00630.x

2044-835X

Kate Eames, Maureen V. Cox,

Children's Physical and Motor Development

A group of 13 children with autism (mean CA = 13:4 and non‐verbal MA = 8:3) were tested on a wide range of drawing tasks. Their performance was compared with 13 normal children (mean CA = 13:4 and mean non‐verbal MA = 14:3), 13 younger normal children (mean CA = 6:10 and mean non‐verbal MA = 8:5) and 13 Down's syndrome (DS) children (mean CA = 16:1 and mean non‐verbal MA = 7:9). The children with autism did not perform any higher than their mental age controls on any individual task; overall, their visual realism scores were significantly lower than those of their chronological and mental age controls, although slightly higher than those of the DS children. It appears that non‐gifted children with autism do not possess any special aptitude for drawing.