Back to the Drawing Board Again: The Predictive Value of Potential Indicators of Giftedness in Human Figure Drawings of Children Aged 4 to 6 Years

Balanced research and practice

The present study aimed to determine the predictive value of exceptional items as a screener for human figure drawings (HFDs) that can be used as part of the identification process of gifted children and their (educational) needs. Participants were 152 children aged 4-6 years, of whom 85 received regular education and were considered ‘typically developing’ and 67 received structural changes to the regular curriculum and were considered ‘potentially gifted’. The analyses indicated that HFDs can serve as a screening tool for 4 and 5-year-olds, but not for 6-year-olds. For 4 and 5-year-olds, the presence of one or more items within two item categories that indicate what is drawn or involve deliberate abnormalities in shape and size predict the likelihood of being in the ‘potentially gifted’ group, rather than items within a category that indicates how good drawings look.