DRAWING SKILLS IN CHILDREN WITH NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DELAY AGED 2-5 YEARS.

In typically developing children, drawing development occurs in stages from uncontrolled strokes to complex drawing. In this study, we examined drawing development in children with neurodevelopmental delay (NDD). In order to do so, we observed the influence of age, intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and gender on the development of drawing skills. The sample consisted of 52 children with NDD, aged 2 years and 6 months to 5 years. All children were hospitalized for multidisciplinary team monitoring and developmental support. The evaluation of drawing development was administered by giving each child a blank A4 paper and the instruction to draw anything they wanted. All of the drawings were scored satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Descriptive statistics was employed on all relevant data to show results in frequencies and percentages. In order to determine differences between groups, the χ2-test was administered. The results showed greatest difference in drawing in children aged from 3 years to 3 years and 11 months. Children with lower IVH had better drawing scores than children with higher IVH levels. According to gender dissimilarities, a difference was found showing girls to have better drawing skills than boys. All study results pointed to the importance of early rehabilitation and continuous structured work with children with NDD.