Graphic narratives of children with mental problems about a family

Abstract

The child expresses himself in a pluralized, in a verbal and non-verbal way, in which the drawings assume, in particular, an adequate method of interpretation. Several researchers dedicated to the study of children’s design, however, is incipient specific themes for the interpretation of drawings of children with mental problems or multiple disabilities. Through the graphic narratives it was intended to focus on the understanding of the child’s and family’s gaze. The drawings of the children are part of the Café & Prosa workshop, held in a specialized service school. The research had the objective of presenting, from the graphic narratives, how the children present the family and how they project the subjects with whom they coexist. By the interpretation of graphic narratives, themes about the presence and absence of the mother or father were obtained; the replacement of the father by grandparents, uncles, mother ’s boyfriends; pets. All drawings presented were made by children with some mental problem or deficiency in their development and at different stages. It is a fact that children, being “normal” or carrying some disorder or disability, can express and narrate, graphically, their stories and their particular contexts. To create graphical narratives poetizes the day to day, resignifies the daily activities, incorporates new meanings for the life.