Exploring and Comparing the Personality of Autistic and Normal Children through the Symbolic Elements of Colored Drawings

This study investigated the symbolic elements of colored drawings in autistic children in comparison with normal ones through a "Draw-a-Person" test.

The peresent research is a Causal-Comparative study. The statistical population of this study was all autistic children in elementry grade and normal children in range of 6 years old in 2019 of Tehran Province. The sample population was estimated by Cochran's method and random cluster sampling. The size of sample was 30 normal children who were chosen from different kindergartens(including: Nik Golan, Naghmehaye Zendegi, Ali and Reza, and Bagh-e-Gol) and 30 autistic children who were selected from different districts of Tehran Province. The instrument used in this research was the Iranian 1993-version of colored "Draw-a-Person" test. Data were analyzed by Independent T-test.

The results showed that there was a significant difference in drawing scales of the head, clothes, body design, color, and place of drawing between normal children and autistic ones.

The cognitive and emotional-sentimental world, hidden needs, intents and desires, and finally communicational issues can be understood from the symbolic elements of the colored drawings of autistic children in comparison with normal ones.