A new approach for the quantitative evaluation of drawings in children with learning disabilities

A new method for a quantitative and objective description of drawing and for the quantification of drawing ability in children with learning disabilities (LD) is hereby presented. Twenty-four normally developing children (N) (age 10.6 ± 0.5) and 18 children with learning disabilities (LD) (age 10.3 ± 2.4) took part to the study. The drawing tasks were chosen among those already used in clinical daily experience (Denver Developmental Screening Test). Some parameters were defined in order to quantitatively describe the features of the children's drawings, introducing new objective measurements beside the subjective standard clinical evaluation.The experimental set-up revealed to be valid for clinical application with LD children. The parameters highlighted the presence of differences in the drawing features of N and LD children. This paper suggests the applicability of this protocol to other fields of motor and cognitive valuation, as well as the possibility to study the upper limbs position and muscle activation during drawing.

Research highlights
► The comparison of LD (learning disabilities) subjects and N (normal) subjects’ drawings highlights the presence of a lack of precision and of greater variability, for LD subjects, in the copy of figures.
► LD subjects draw bent crosses and irregular polygons (angles are minor or major than 90°).
► The orientation of the drawing (i.e. upwards or downwards springs) affects the drawing ability of some of the LD children.