A Neolithic childhood: Children’s drawings as prehistoric                     sources

Wittmann, Barbara

doi:10.1086/690982

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Children have been using drawings to express themselves since ancient times (Wittmann and Barber, 2013). The idea that spontaneous drawing of young children may reflect their physical, cognitive and affective status, led psychologists to exploit drawings as a useful tool for assessing child development, personality and emotional adaptation (Cooke, 1885; Goodenough, 1975; Matthews, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body Representation in Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy

et al. 2019

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Drawings produced by children provide insights about their physical and psychological status. In children suffering from unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP), self-portraits constitute a unique opportunity to study whether and how their disease affects self-body representation. The aim of the present study is to evaluate self-body representation in UCP children, comparing it to the way they portray both healthy and hemiparetic peers. Ten UCP children were asked to perform 3 drawings: a self-portrait, a portrait of their best classmate, and finally a portrait of a hemiparetic peer who had joint them in a child-to-child rehabilitation protocol. As controls, 16 typically developing children were asked to perform a self-portrait, and their best-classmate portrait. The asymmetry index (AI), consisting of the difference between the upper limbs length expressed as percentage of their average, resulted greater in UCP than in controls’ self-portrait. More interestingly, UCP children portrayed themselves more asymmetrically relative to their classmates and hemiparetic peers. No difference in terms of AI was found between self- vs. classmate-portrait in the control group. This study provides evidence that UCP affects body self-representation, but not body-representation in general. In fact, the asymmetry in upper limb representation observed in children with UCP does not constitute a mere picturing of the hemiparesis, but rather reflects the experienced status of functioning, that is valid only for one’s own. The inclusion of portraits in pediatric neurorehabilitation programs might enable clinicians to collect additional evidence about the children self-perceived functioning, i.e., an information not easily obtainable in pediatric patients.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body Representation in Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy

et al. 2019

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“…Maybe they were always there: in the sand by the water, on the bark of trees, on stones and rocks. (Wittmann, 2013: 125)All artistic experiences take place in a world of symbols. (Kramer, 2000: 39)Children’s drawing is like a white voice that, when reaching puberty, becomes lost forever, unless .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Maybe they were always there: in the sand by the water, on the bark of trees, on stones and rocks. (Wittmann, 2013: 125)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collecting to understand: the art of children and the medical-pedagogical approach in twentieth-century Portugal

Fróis

2021

Hist Psychiatry

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In this essay I look at the art of children as a tool in the medical-pedagogical approach, as proposed by the founder of child psychiatry in Portugal, Vítor Fontes (1893–1979). First, the topic of the art of children is introduced, and the second part focuses on the model of medical pedagogy as it was practised in Portugal. The third and fourth parts present Fontes’s own investigations on the drawings of children with intellectual disabilities under observation at the Instituto Médico-Pedagógico António Aurélio da Costa Ferreira (IAACF) in Lisbon. In the conclusion it is argued that Fontes contributed to the development of child psychiatry in Portugal by showing that children’s art can mirror their cognitive and emotional development.

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“…Children have been using drawings to express themselves since ancient times and this topic has captured the interest of scientists since the late 19th century. Indeed, by analyzing the presence/absence of graphical aspects like details, colors, proportions, and shapes, it is possible to trace a developmental maturation trajectory based on children’s drawings [ 1 ]. Historically, the Draw-a-Man test (DAMT) developed by Goodenough [ 2 ] represents the first systematic scoring system for children’s drawings, devised with the intent to provide a surrogate measure of children’s intelligence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Figure Drawings in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Possible Window on the Inner or the Outer World

et al. 2020

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Background: Tests based on human figure drawings (HFD) have captured the attention of clinicians and psychologists for a long time. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the performance of HFD of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) relative to typically developing (TD) controls. Methods: All children were asked to draw three human figures (man, woman, self-portrait) and were evaluated with a neuropsychological battery. HFD were scored according to the Maturity Scale, and correlative approaches testing maturity against neuropsychological scores were applied. Results: ASDs presented marked deficits in maturity. No significant correlation emerged for both groups between maturity and the theory of mind test. On the contrary, positive and significant correlations between maturity and the affect recognition test (AR) were found, with group-specific patterns. In TD, this result regarded drawings of others, but not self-portraits, while an opposite pattern emerged for ASD, whose sole maturity in self-portraits significantly correlated with the AR scores. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the use of HFD tests with individuals with autism may not be used in clinical practices. However, in basic research, HFDs could be used to highlight dependencies between drawing performance and neuropsychological features, thus possibly providing hints on the functioning of autism.

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A Neolithic childhood: Children’s drawings as prehistoric sources

Cited by 8 publications

References 6 publications

Body Representation in Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy

Body Representation in Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy

Collecting to understand: the art of children and the medical-pedagogical approach in twentieth-century Portugal

Human Figure Drawings in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Possible Window on the Inner or the Outer World

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