Drawing Expression of 8-10 Year-Old Girls with Learning Disabilities in Regular Elementary Schools in Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia is a country that focuses its attention on children with special needs, particularly children with learning disabilities. This special attention is due to the increase in the population of children with learning disabilities, which, according to the 2011 data, is estimated at around 1.5 million children. The learning disabilities addressed by this study are the difficulties in studying independently in class, finishing assignment, organizing work and concentrating. This study aims at identifying a main aspect of the children with learning disabilities, particularly in girls with learning disabilities, that is their self expression through drawing. The focus of the discussion is limited to aspects of visual language and visual elements created by girls with learning disabilities. The procedure of this study begins with a preliminary study or pre-research, called the initial phase, using the experiment method. The purpose of this initial phase is to obtain the drawing expression of the children with learning disabilities at a very early stage. This is conducted through a storytelling method where the girls are asked to tell stories followed by free drawing activity to express in drawing the events or occurrences they have experienced. The resulting drawings are then analyzed based on visual elements, namely object, composition, color, and visual language. This study concludes that the drawing expression of 8-10 year-old girls with learning disabilities displays the forms that they have imagined, instead of what they have seen. For example, humans are depicted in the form of schemes, while houses are depicted as geometrical shapes. In terms of visual language, most 8-10 year-old children are capable of creating natural and realistic drawing. In reality, these children with learning disabilities are incapable of doing that. This shows that these children with learning disabilities experience a delay in the ability of creating visualization in drawing. The drawings that they have created are uncharacteristic of their age, with broken lines that seem to show hesitation. They also tend to choose contrasting colors, such as blue, green, orange and yellow. This also shows that there is limitation in their choice of colors.

Keywords: art, children with learning disabilities, creative expression, drawing.