GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF TWO AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL RELATIONS IN NORMAL AND LEARNING DISABLED CHILDREN

The purpose of the study was to provide information concerning the drawing schemas normal and learning disabled first grade boys use to represent two and three dimensional spatial relations. In addition, children's picture interpretation skills of these same relations were examined. Subjects drew circles above, below, in front of and behind single objects. Next they selected pictures to represent these same relations. Subjects then were asked to draw the three dimensional relations after being shown a model. Finally, children were asked to label relations of toys placed above, below, in front of and behind each other.;Some developmental drawing studies have indicated that normal five, six and seven year olds can represent three dimensional spatial relations. In this study, first grade boys did not use accurate drawing schemas to represent both in front and behind relations although they could interpret spatial pictorial cues representing these relations. Moreover, good drawers did not always use accurate labels to describe the same relations. Similarly, some poor labelers used accurate drawing schemas. Finally, because learning disabled boys used inaccurate labels for the relations while normal boys used accurate words, there is some question as to whether learning disabled children understand spatial relations to the same extent as their normal peers.;The results showed that while there were no differences between drawing schemas, over half of the boys in each group did not use accurate schemas to represent behind. There were significant differences between groups in the recognition of their own drawing schemas. Normal boys pointed to the schema they had used to represent a specific relation more often than learning disabled boys. Both groups selected pictorial cues more complex than they could graphically produce. Additionally, all subjects made accurate drawings of in front and behind after being shown schemas for the relations. Finally, there was not a significant relationship between children's accurate drawing and labeling of the same relation, although differences did occur in the use of appropriate labels for the relations. Normal boys used accurate labels more often than learning disabled boys.