About this Research Topic
Professionals working with children consider children’s drawings an essential non-verbal tool for communication. Children’s drawings are in a lineage with cave painting demonstrating the very earliest attempts in human history to capture the visual likeness of objects. In educational contexts, children’s drawings are a precursor to writing, requiring their socio-emotional and intellectual development, visual attention and executive function. Drawing is also an integral part of prevention and treatment interventions (e.g. art therapy) as well as forensic investigations (eye-witness) because they can be graphic representations of their interpersonal relationships. Clinicians see drawing as a useful non-verbal support to help children with mental health problems express themselves on difficult or taboo topics and their emotional experiences in relation to certain events including traumatic experiences. In research, drawing is tested in experimental designs to reveal their transition from intellectual to visual realism showing their internalization of schematic stereotypes or other cultural constructs.
Drawing is therefore widely used in work with children and adolescents in different contexts and from different theoretical and disciplinary perspectives. It is a useful tool for assessing children and their adjustment, as well as a springboard for investigating the world of knowledge and emotions of children and adolescents. Thus, it is important to stimulate evidence-based research on children’s drawings and to identify the best strategies for integrating drawing into scientific research and into the educational, clinical, and forensic contexts in which children’s drawings are most widely used.
The aim of this Research Topic is to gather research contributions on the topics of children’s drawings as a tool for assessing children’s development and psychological adjustment, and knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions about events or concepts. Contributions to the development of children’s drawings and research aimed at presenting new checklists or techniques for analyzing children’s drawings will also be welcomed, as will research related to children’s drawings as a tool for assessing children and adolescents in educational, clinical, and forensic settings. Cross-cultural research will be encouraged, and literature reviews (narrative, systematic or scoping reviews, and meta-analyses) or critical commentary will be accepted to the extent that they make an effective contribution to the current debate and future research. Finally, clinical cases or research on prevention and intervention programs (including psychotherapies) in educational and mental health contexts related to the use of children’s drawings will be considered.
Drawing is therefore widely used in work with children and adolescents in different contexts and from different theoretical and disciplinary perspectives. It is a useful tool for assessing children and their adjustment, as well as a springboard for investigating the world of knowledge and emotions of children and adolescents. Thus, it is important to stimulate evidence-based research on children’s drawings and to identify the best strategies for integrating drawing into scientific research and into the educational, clinical, and forensic contexts in which children’s drawings are most widely used.
The aim of this Research Topic is to gather research contributions on the topics of children’s drawings as a tool for assessing children’s development and psychological adjustment, and knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions about events or concepts. Contributions to the development of children’s drawings and research aimed at presenting new checklists or techniques for analyzing children’s drawings will also be welcomed, as will research related to children’s drawings as a tool for assessing children and adolescents in educational, clinical, and forensic settings. Cross-cultural research will be encouraged, and literature reviews (narrative, systematic or scoping reviews, and meta-analyses) or critical commentary will be accepted to the extent that they make an effective contribution to the current debate and future research. Finally, clinical cases or research on prevention and intervention programs (including psychotherapies) in educational and mental health contexts related to the use of children’s drawings will be considered.
Keywords: Children’s drawings, evidence-based, Art therapy, children, adolescents, projective techniques, psychological assessment, education, child development.
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
