Visual realism in the drawings of autistic, Down's syndrome and normal children

A group of 13 children with autism (mean CA = 13:4 and non-verbal MA = 8:3) were tested on a wide range of drawing tasks. Their performance was compared with 13 normal children (mean CA = 13:4 and mean non-verbal MA = 14:3), 13 younger normal children (mean CA = 6: 10 and mean non-verbal MA = 8: 5) and 13 Down's syndrome (DS) children (mean CA = 16:1 and mean non-verbal MA = 7:9). The children with autism did not perform any higher than their mental age controls on any individual task; overall, their visual realism scores were significantly lower than those of their chronological and mental age controls, although slightly higher than those of the DS children. It appears that non-gifted children with autism do not possess any special aptitude for drawing