Kinetic Family Drawing Comparisons of Students who are Deaf with Signing Parents and Students who are Deaf with Non-signing Parents

Abstract

This study evaluated the differences in the Kinetic Family Drawing (KFD) of two groups of students who are Deaf: one with signing parents, and the other with non-signing parents. Participants included 14 students who were Deaf from a large Midwestern metropolitan area school specifically serving Deaf people, from middle school to high school, ranging in age from 12 to 19 years old. The questions to be addressed were: Will there be a difference in drawing indicators of those students with signing parents when compared to those students with non- signing parents? Could those differences indicate possible struggles in cognitive and psychosocial developments of those with non-signing parents? To answer this question, three raters, were trained to use the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale (FEATS) evaluation process to objectively rate the students’ KFDs. A t-test of the results determined that there was a significant difference between the two groups. Further analysis of elements discovered in the KFDs also presented several themes from the non-signing group indicating that the differences may be due to inadequate development of cognitive and psychosocial aspects of the students with non-signing parents. The study drew comparisons from specific FEATS categories to provide art therapists and clinicians with data that may be useful in evaluating a Deaf individual’s family support as well as his/her abilities in the areas of coping, problem solving, and interaction with other people. Future studies that include participation by students outside the school may solicit richer data, permitting generalizations of results to specific groups.