Draw-a-Person Test

Abstract

The Draw-a-Person test is a screening instrument used to assess children’s non-verbal intelligence. In the assessment of children, brief criteria of DAP’s could be promising to identify possible learning difficulties. Therefore, our aim was to propose a reduced number of criteria to evaluate DAP. To do so, 1403 children aged from 6 to 10 years (M = 8.16; SD = 1.40) participated. Through the mirt package in the R Studio program, we proposed a 2-parameter logistic model, extracting 12 indicators that were able to predict 83% of non-verbal intelligence. In this correction proposal, we selected indicators that maintained easy, medium, and difficult levels, which allowed children’s performance to differentiate according to age. The results were positive, indicating that the proposal is promising for use in research, clinical practice, psychoeducation, and educational psychological assessments.