Drawing ability in four young children with congenital unilateral brain lesions

Abstract

The drawings of four 5-yr-old children, two with left and two right hemisphere congenital brain injury, were compared with those of 20 normal 3.5–5 yr-olds. Two types of drawings were evaluated: copied geometric forms and free drawings. The children with left hemisphere injury showed normal development in both copying and free drawing. The children with right hemisphere injury were developmentally impaired in the copying task. In addition, their free drawings lacked configurational coherence; they included the elements of the figures but failed to arrange them in spatially organized ways. This failure to organize spatially elements is consistent with the descriptions of spatial cognitive disorders found in the drawings of adults with right parietal brain lesions.