Many people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show a photographic memory and visual strength. Geometric forms and serial structures are described as characteristic features in autistic art. However, there is little awareness of the artistic expression of persons with ASD and an intellectual disability. In order to assess the specific design elements displayed in this group we developed a list of design characteristics based on 120 drawings of adults with intellectual disability. Reoccurring features were grouped in the areas of form and content. The list was tested psychometrically in N = 40 patients; tn = 20 with ASD and an age and IQ matched control group. All drawings were rated by three independent experts, who were blinded to patients’ characteristics; inter-rater reliability was measured by the mean absolute agreement. Salient features were identified based on their discriminant power. Overall, 60 design features were identified. Inter-rater-reliability was good (M = 82.6 %). Nine items discriminated distinctly between individuals with and without ASD; thus, ‘line structure’ and ‘repetition’ were shown to be significant markers. In conclusion, the artwork of adults with intellectual disability and ASD displays specific formal design characteristics compared to those with intellectual disability only. This may give important clues to support multidimensional ASD-diagnostics in this group.

许多患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的人表现出照相记忆和视觉强度。几何形式和序列结构被描述为自闭症领域的特征。但是，很少有人意识到自闭症和智力障碍者的艺术表现。为了评估该组中显示的特定设计元素，我们基于120位智障成年人的图纸制定了一系列设计特征。重复出现的功能按形式和内容进行分组。该清单经过心理计量学测试，共N 例40例患者；Ť ñ ASD = 20，年龄和智商匹配的对照组。所有图纸均由三位不了解患者特征的独立专家评定。评分者间的信度是通过平均绝对一致性来衡量的。根据其判别力确定了显着特征。总体上，确定了60个设计特征。评分者间的可靠性良好（M  = 82.6％）。有和没有自闭症的人之间有九种区别。因此，“线结构”和“重复”显示为重要标志。总之，与仅具有智力障碍的成年人相比，具有智力障碍和ASD的成年人的艺术品表现出特定的正式设计特征。这可能会为支持该组的多维ASD诊断提供重要线索。