Differences in Developmental Art of Deaf Children and Hearing Children

The developmental art of deaf children and hearing children between the ages of 7 and 9 years were compared. Deafness was defined as having a hearing loss of 70 decibels in at least one ear. Raters classified 24 drawings by deaf children and 29 drawings by hearing children according to a seven-item checklist based on Lowenfeld's stages of artistic development. The mean score of the drawings of hearing children was significantly higher than the mean score of the drawings of deaf children. The study supported Lowenfeld's idea of the schematic stage as normative for well-adjusted children aged 7 to 9 years. Results are discussed within the context of using culturally affirmative assessments to rate the drawings of deaf children.