What do self-generated drawings convey about the experiences of children with developmental language disorder? An interprofessional study

 

Background: Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a lifelong condition in which individuals may experience language-based challenges that cannot be explained by an obvious cause. Drawing about a personal event before producing an oral narrative is one possible elicitation technique used to assess language skills for children with DLD.

Aim: The main purpose was to examine potential connections between the form and content of event narratives and own drawings from children with DLD, so practitioners and families understand what these drawings convey about the experiences of this population.

Method: Eighteen 7- to 10-year-old native English speakers diagnosed with a language disorder participated in the online repeated measures study. Depending on the task condition (A, B, C), participants were instructed to (A) think of a recent event, (B) think of a recent event and look at a photograph of the event, or (C) think of a recent event and draw the event. Then participants told stories about the event. A mixed method analysis from an interprofessional team from speech-language pathology and art therapy analysed content and form of the oral narratives and drawings.

Results: There were fair to good associations between the form and content of oral narratives and participant drawings. Narrative structural analyses were related to the drawing forms (e.g., colour, space, line quality, and investment of energy). The content analysis for oral narrative themes was related to the manifest content (e.g., a list of objects seen and the relationships between the objects) of participant drawings. 

Conclusions: Drawings paired with oral narratives encourage interdisciplinary collaboration between speech-language pathologists and art therapists and support a deep understanding of the socio-emotional status and language skills of children with DLD.

Implications for children and families: Drawing could be an accessible way for you to encourage expressive verbal elaboration and artful creation when your child is sharing a personal experience.

Implications for practitioners: Self-generated drawings paired with oral event narratives could provide you with deeper insight into the experiences of 7- to 10-year-old children with DLD.

Funding: NYU Steinhardt Fellowship (first author)

Key words: children’s story telling, Developmental Language Disorder, narrative analysis, visual analysis, interprofessional team

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequality