Abstract
The children draw talking project was developed with the aim to understanding how children draw themselves talking. This project built on the work of McCormack et al. (2022), and examines children’s perspectives of drawing themselves talking through the different ways children's drawings can be analysed. Drawings can support children’s agency to share their views and their voices crossing the boundaries of language and speech ability (McLeod et al., 2023). The project endeavoured to give young children a voice, while the project analysis and writing work endeavoured to advocate for the importance of children’s voices being heard (United Nations 1989).
The participants included 200 children from 24 countries and ranged in age from 2-12 years old. The children submitted a drawing into the Children Draw Talking Global Online Gallery presented at the Early Childhood Voices Conference (ECV2022). The children’s drawing and an explanation of their drawings were submitted for inclusion in the online gallery. The drawings used the Children Draw Talking protocol (McLeod, et al. 2023) and were then analysed by a diverse interdisciplinary team including early childhood teachers, speech pathologists, psychologists, a physiotherapist and a computer scientist.
Analysis of the drawings found that the majority of children drew an incomplete person where the arms, legs or body were not connected, which is typical for children aged between 4 to 5 years (de Lomas & Doig, 1999). The drawings predominately portrayed the child with at least one other character, often a parent or an animal and these relationships were identified as a major theme in children’s explanation of their drawings. Friendships, parents and grandparents were highlighted in the children’s explanation of their thinking around their drawings. Additionally, children were identified as mainly talking in their drawings with many also identified as undertaking fun activities including playing tip, going down a slide or hiding.
This project provided an inclusive opportunity for children’s voices to be collected and included children of all ages, cultures, contexts and abilities while encouraging children’s agency to express their views about their world. The analysis of the drawings provides an informed understanding of how young children participate, play and live in the world. The project offers children’s diverse world views and experiences of talking. This project provided an inclusive, child friendly technique to support children’s voices and their agency to express their views.
References
de Lemos, M., & Doig, B. (1999). Who Am I? Australian Council for Educational Research.
McCormack, J., McLeod, S., Harrison, L. J. & Holliday, E. L. (2022). Drawing talking: Listening to children with speech sound disorders. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 53(3), 713-731. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00140
McLeod, S., Gregoric, C., Davies, J., Dealtry, L., Delli-Pizzi, L., Downey, B., Elwick, S., Hopf, S. C., McAlister, H., Ivory, N., Murray, E., Sikder, S., Rahman, A., Tran, V. H., Zischke, C. & Grant, J. (2023). Children draw talking around the world. [Manuscript submitted for publication].
United Nations (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/convention-text
The participants included 200 children from 24 countries and ranged in age from 2-12 years old. The children submitted a drawing into the Children Draw Talking Global Online Gallery presented at the Early Childhood Voices Conference (ECV2022). The children’s drawing and an explanation of their drawings were submitted for inclusion in the online gallery. The drawings used the Children Draw Talking protocol (McLeod, et al. 2023) and were then analysed by a diverse interdisciplinary team including early childhood teachers, speech pathologists, psychologists, a physiotherapist and a computer scientist.
Analysis of the drawings found that the majority of children drew an incomplete person where the arms, legs or body were not connected, which is typical for children aged between 4 to 5 years (de Lomas & Doig, 1999). The drawings predominately portrayed the child with at least one other character, often a parent or an animal and these relationships were identified as a major theme in children’s explanation of their drawings. Friendships, parents and grandparents were highlighted in the children’s explanation of their thinking around their drawings. Additionally, children were identified as mainly talking in their drawings with many also identified as undertaking fun activities including playing tip, going down a slide or hiding.
This project provided an inclusive opportunity for children’s voices to be collected and included children of all ages, cultures, contexts and abilities while encouraging children’s agency to express their views about their world. The analysis of the drawings provides an informed understanding of how young children participate, play and live in the world. The project offers children’s diverse world views and experiences of talking. This project provided an inclusive, child friendly technique to support children’s voices and their agency to express their views.
References
de Lemos, M., & Doig, B. (1999). Who Am I? Australian Council for Educational Research.
McCormack, J., McLeod, S., Harrison, L. J. & Holliday, E. L. (2022). Drawing talking: Listening to children with speech sound disorders. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 53(3), 713-731. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00140
McLeod, S., Gregoric, C., Davies, J., Dealtry, L., Delli-Pizzi, L., Downey, B., Elwick, S., Hopf, S. C., McAlister, H., Ivory, N., Murray, E., Sikder, S., Rahman, A., Tran, V. H., Zischke, C. & Grant, J. (2023). Children draw talking around the world. [Manuscript submitted for publication].
United Nations (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/convention-text
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 13-14 |
| Number of pages | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - 2024 |
| Event | 2024 Australasian Journal of Early Childhood Conference: Australasian Journal of Early Childhood 2024 Research Symposium - Online Duration: 08 Feb 2024 → 09 Feb 2024 https://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-AJEC-Research-Symposium_Discussion-papers_Final.pdf https://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/events/ajecsymposium/ (Symposium website) |
Conference
| Conference | 2024 Australasian Journal of Early Childhood Conference |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | Listening, empowering and innovating |
| Period | 08/02/24 → 09/02/24 |
| Other | We invite early childhood practitioners, researchers, leaders, academics and students to exchange ideas, innovative research methodologies and findings. The symposium will also discuss the latest research and pedagogical practice from the longest-running and most highly regarded academic journal produced by ECA, the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC). The 2024 AJEC Research Symposium will include: keynote presentations based on the theme of Listening, empowering and innovating panel discussions providing themed provocations for researchers and interested stakeholders roundtable discussions—sharing and debating research evidence, theoretical perspectives and methods two additional presentation formats, namely Symposium presentations and Provocations. The Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC) is Australasia’s foremost scholarly journal and the world’s longest-running major journal within the early childhood field. Published quarterly, AJEC offers research-based articles that are designed to impart new information and encourage the critical exchange of ideas among early childhood practitioners, academics and students. Young children and their adults live, learn, grow, participate and play in many contexts, experiencing diverse world views and opportunities. These experiences are informed by variations in culture, socio-economic and material conditions, digital mediation, environmental sustainability and political orientations. Through the theme of ‘Listening, empowering and innovating’, we invite researchers, policymakers and early years professionals to consider how research, theories, practices and methodologies are designed and enacted alongside children and other stakeholders to recognise where they are in the world, within the following streams: Being attuned to people, culture and place Walking with allies, partners, stakeholders and participants Creating knowledge, methodologies and relationships. We welcome early childhood researchers and workforce professionals engaging with young children, their families, communities, educators and allied professionals to participate and come together to share cutting-edge knowledge and forge research networks in Australasia and beyond. The Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC) is Australasia’s foremost scholarly journal and the world’s longest-running major journal within the early childhood field. Published quarterly, AJEC offers research-based articles that are designed to impart new information and encourage the critical exchange of ideas among early childhood practitioners, academics and students. |
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