Schematic stage

The schematic stage is the third in the development of drawing in the child . This occurs between approximately seven and nine years of age and is the phase in which the child begins to use his creations as a tool for visual communication. From this age, children begin to develop thought processes similar to those of adults, although they have not yet developed most of their cognitive processes.

The human scheme represented by the child contains all his emotional knowledge of thinking people, is more precise in his drawings and is capable of representing a direct situation that impressed him or left some kind of mark on his psyche.

In this period, the visual-motor coordination (eye-hand) is already well developed; the child acquires a concept and repeats it permanently , for example, he draws the person always in the same way and as long as there is no experience that causes changes, this pattern will be repeated. At this stage depth begins to show in the drawings.

The child draws what he knows, what he knows and not what he sees as in the case of the drawing of the human figure that represents the head, the trunk, arms, legs, among other things, also appearing details that may have some distortion. That is why we can also find transparency or x-ray drawings ; for example, in a car, locate the four wheels or furniture in the house.

Time is also present , since they can represent comics in different frames. In the space, relationships between objects will appear , the base lines and the sky, it may also represent bending and mirror drawings where symmetry is marked ; a typical example is a boy who draws a street and buildings on one side and buildings in reverse on the other side.

At the same time, a relationship appears between the graphical object and the color. The colors used are based on the actual representation of the object, but the perspective has not yet been established.

The schematic stage  is an ideal stage to discover and understand what the child tries to express in his drawings ; since its precision and its almost exact interpretation of events can show us without detours how the child feels or what events it has witnessed.

Analysis of drawings in the pre-schematic stage

Next, we will analyze a series of drawings of different types and we will provide some tools for parents, teachers or caregivers, to be able to do it with their children’s drawings.

In this drawing, a happy moment can be clearly seen. The child who created this graphic probably sees his family as his support, his protection, and the safest place in the world. We can deduce that the child’s family environment is good, since the family members are seen smiling, holding hands (which shows the family union) and happy. But this does not mean that the creator of that drawing does not have other problems, because also, the child could be the victim of some unpleasant situation and he made that drawing as a defense mechanism, out of the need to feel good and to forget how bad he was. has passed.

This may have been a drawing of a girl representing herself or it may be the representation of another person. In the graph we can notice an increase in size in the human figure compared to the outside. If it is a self-portrait, it could mean that the creator of said drawing sees herself as superior to the rest of her environment. This picture could be a determining factor in diagnosing a narcissistic personality disorder.  The fact that the girl believes she is superior to the rest may mean that she has high self-esteem , which can be encouraged by her family environment or her school environment.

If the representation were of another individual, it would mean how the creator of the drawing sees said person – be it her mother, a friend or another being with whom she maintains contact -, with the same characteristics that we named above.

This drawing shows everything by itself. With it, we can deduce that whoever created it is suffering and is in a violent environment. The observed graph can be an indicator of several situations: family violence, child abuse, depression , school bullying , antisocial personality disorder , among others.

In the drawing we can notice with the naked eye a crying girl, a person fallen on the ground with blood on his face, other people participating in the event with sad or angry faces, bars and many clouds that cover the sky. We can also distinguish that the color most used in the drawing is black -which contrasts with the white background of the sheet-.

Perhaps the child who made this drawing is being a direct or indirect victim of family violence, or perhaps he is a victim of school abuse, or witnessed a violent episode in the institution to which he attends. It can also be a child who has a relative in prison and shows his family situation.

Note: For the exact interpretation of the drawings, the family, environmental and educational context in which the child is a participant must be taken into account.

If you believe that the child is expressing noticeable changes and abnormalities in his drawings, which are accompanied by changes in his behavior, the first step should be to consult with a mental health professional who will guide him to discover the cause of these changes.