[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-592150-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-592150-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","assessing-portrait-drawings-created-by-children-and-adolescents-with-autism-spectrum-disorder","Assessing Portrait Drawings Created by Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder","","The study investigates how individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) attend to the human face and represent faces during drawing. Data were collected from 25 autistic children and adolescents and 15 neurotypical peers as part of a pilot Portrait Drawing Assessment. Participants with ASD showed greater engagement and conversational behavior during art therapy, challenging stereotypes of social disinterest. Portrait drawing is proposed as a structured, concrete therapeutic task supporting face processing and recognition skills.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/assessing-portrait-drawings-created-by-children-and-adolescents-with-autism-spectrum-disorder/592150/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/assessing-portrait-drawings-created-by-children-and-adolescents-with-autism-spectrum-disorder/592150.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Grenda","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",7,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What does the study examine about drawing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD)?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It examines how people with ASD approach drawing tasks and, specifically, how they represent faces.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How was the Portrait Drawing Assessment (PDA) carried out in this pilot study?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The PDA used drawings created by 25 children and adolescents with ASD and 15 neurotypical children, which were collected and rated during an assessment context.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What key finding challenged common characterizations about social engagement in ASD?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Participants with ASD were rated as more engaged and conversational during the art therapy assessment than their neurotypical counterparts.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},592150,1792167659,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":115,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},7971474921005,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","Assessing Portrait Drawings Created by Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder  \nNicole Martin, Lawrence, KS  \nAbstract  \nThe ability to attend to the human face is a striking and possibly characteristic deficit for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study collected and reviewed data on how people with ASD approach the drawing task and represent faces in particular. Drawings that were created by 25 children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and 15 neurotypical children were collected for a pilot study of the Portrait Drawing Assessment. Participants with ASD were rated as more engaged and conversational during the art therapy assessment than their neurotypical counterparts, contradicting widespread characterization of people with ASD as asocial. Portrait drawing was found to be successful as a structured, concrete means for engaging in relationships and holds potential as a therapeutic task for developing face processing and face recognition skills.  \nIntroduction  \n“Autistics have problems learning things that cannot bethought about in pictures.” (Grandin, 1996, p. 29)  \nFor reasons still not fully understood, people with autism have difficulty interacting with the faces of others. Yet as an art therapist, I have always enjoyed drawing my clients’ portraits and having them reciprocate with their portraits of me. When viewing my drawings, often a look would come over the faces of my clients with ASD that seemed to say: This is me? This intervention was portrait drawing with all of the magic and none of the usual insecurity encountered by the task, because individuals with ASD seem generally indifferent to socially based concerns such as drawing skill or enduring the gaze of another person. Autism is one of few disorders characterized by this unusual and problematic relationship with the human face, yet drawing has been a way in which these children and I seem to connect. This study was inspired by such experiences, and a desire to document both the process and products of a drawing session with young people with ASD. I developed the Portrait Drawing Assessment (PDA) to look for trends in the data and to initiate a more comprehensive look at art made by children and adolescents with ASD.  \nEditor’s note: Nicole Martin, MAAT, LPC, is the owner of Sky’s the Limit Studio, LLC, specializing in creative arts therapies for individuals with autism spectrum disorder and their families. The research for this article was conducted while Ms. Martin was a graduate student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Correspondence concerning this article may be sent to the author at [http://arttherapyandautism.com](http://arttherapyandautism.com)  \nLiterature Review Autism as a disorder  \nAutism spectrum disorder (ASD), also called “autism,”is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by qualitative impairment in social interaction and communication as well as the presence of restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviors, interests, and activities (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) . ASD is a nonscientific term describing any individual with a diagnosis on the autism“spectrum” (Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Autistic Disorder, Rett’s Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and Asperger’s Syndrome) . Communication, imagination, and social relationships comprise the traditional triad of deficiencies in individuals with ASD. Although not a national estimate, recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCR) report that in the 20 U.S. communities surveyed, between 6 and 7 children in 1,000 have an ASD diagnosis (about 1 in 150 children)(CDCR, 2007) . ASD is present in equal numbers across cultures and social classes; however, ASD is three to four times more likely to manifest itself in males rather than females. ASD is by definition an early onset disorder and signs of its presence must be noted prior to age three (American Psychiatric A","cbCaieKGBAA0zpf0","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieKGBAA0zpf0","pdf",258160,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n# Literature Review\n## Autism as a disorder\n## Art therapy and ASD","[{\"question\":\"What does the study examine about drawing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD)?\",\"answer\":\"It examines how people with ASD approach drawing tasks and, specifically, how they represent faces.\"},{\"question\":\"How was the Portrait Drawing Assessment (PDA) carried out in this pilot study?\",\"answer\":\"The PDA used drawings created by 25 children and adolescents with ASD and 15 neurotypical children, which were collected and rated during an assessment context.\"},{\"question\":\"What key finding challenged common characterizations about social engagement in ASD?\",\"answer\":\"Participants with ASD were rated as more engaged and conversational during the art therapy assessment than their neurotypical counterparts.\"}]","Assessing Portrait Drawings Created by Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder | PDF",1792073966,23]