Draw-A-Person Assessment

The Draw-A-Person Test is one of the few assessments that places no demand on language. There is no reading, no writing, no vocabulary test and virtually no spoken response required.

That makes it particularly valuable when assessing students in international schools, where many children are learning in English as an additional language (EAL). It gives our Educational Psychologists an early, language-neutral view of visual-motor development, planning and task approach before formal cognitive and academic testing begins.

The Draw-A-Person Test is a standardised developmental assessment in which students are asked to draw a person. Although the task is simple, it provides valuable clinical information about visual-motor skills, developmental maturity and how a student approaches an open-ended activity.

At Global Education Testing, we administer the Draw-A-Person Test at the beginning of every assessment. It allows us to observe the student before language demands, time pressures and formal testing influence performance, creating a valuable reference point for interpreting everything that follows.

What Is the Draw-A-Person Test?

The assessment asks students to complete a simple drawing of a person.

There are no difficult instructions, no reading tasks, no written answers and no strict time limits.

Because the task is almost entirely non-verbal, students from a wide range of linguistic backgrounds can complete it without being disadvantaged by their level of English.

For our Educational Psychologists, however, the assessment is about much more than the finished drawing.

It provides the first opportunity to observe how the student thinks, plans and responds to an unfamiliar task.

What Does It Measure?

The Draw-A-Person Test provides information across several important areas.

Developmental Maturity

The drawing is scored using recognised developmental criteria, examining the presence, proportion and organisation of different body features.

This provides a broad indication of developmental maturity that is interpreted alongside the wider assessment battery.

Visual-Motor Integration

Drawing requires visual perception and fine motor control to work together.

The assessment allows us to observe pencil control, coordination and graphomotor skills that often relate to handwriting and written classroom performance.

Executive Functioning

Although there is no single “correct” drawing, there are many different ways to approach the task.

Some students pause to plan.

Others begin immediately.

Some work methodically, while others jump randomly between different parts of the drawing.

These behaviours provide early evidence about planning, organisation and self-monitoring.

Behaviour During Assessment

The Draw-A-Person Test also gives us an opportunity to observe how a student approaches assessment itself.

Confidence, hesitation, persistence, frustration tolerance and willingness to attempt unfamiliar tasks all provide useful clinical information that helps place later test results into context.

What Makes This Assessment Different?

The Draw-A-Person Test is unique because it is almost entirely independent of language.

This is particularly important in international schools, where many students are bilingual or multilingual.

A student may perform below expectations on verbal tasks simply because they are processing information in a second or third language.

That challenge is largely removed during the Draw-A-Person Test.

As a result, it provides an early, non-verbal reference point that helps our Educational Psychologists distinguish between genuine learning difficulties and the normal effects of learning through an additional language.

It also helps us establish rapport before introducing more demanding assessments, ensuring later results are more likely to reflect the student’s true abilities.