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

The present study aimed to determine whether exceptional items in human figure drawings (HFDs) can serve the identification process of talents and (educational) needs of children with high intellectual abilities. Participants were 152 children aged 4 to 6 years at the time of drawing. After 2 years, 85 had received regular curriculum (the "typically developing" group) and 67 had received enriched curriculum (the "potentially gifted" group). Analyses of item categories suggested that HFDs can serve as a screener for giftedness for 4- and 5-year-olds, but not for 6-year-olds. For 4- and 5-year-olds, the presence of items that indicated "what" is drawn or indicated deliberate abnormalities in shape and size predicted the likelihood of being in the "potentially gifted" group. No such predictive relation was found for items that indicated "how good" drawings look.