4. The Draw a Person Test for Ghana

Goals of the Present Study
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In applying the concept of using the drawing of a human figure by children
as a measure of cognitive complexity, we attempt to:
• give the specialized teacher of children with a mental handicap a
screening tool and non-verbal measure of cognitive ability that can
be administered and evaluated in a relatively short period of time;
• provide a low cost and simple procedure that can be easily applied
even under the financially restricted circumstances in the schools of
the nation;
• use a procedure that is appealing and non-threatening to children,
even to those that have never been to school;
• make use of a scoring system (Naglieri, 1988) that is systematic,
objective and efficient when sufficiently practised under supervision;
• establish norms for the drawing of a man and a woman based on a
large representative sample of Ghanaian children stratified as to
economic backgrounds and regional population distribution;
• furnish comparison norms of half-year intervals for children aged
five years to twelve in order to increase the precision of assessment;
• and finally, to include students and special education teachers in this
process so that, in the future, they will have the knowledge to also
attempt to establish simple assessment procedures.