Draw A Person Test

Skipper is four!

Because Skipper is four, she has a "well-child" check-up  next week. Because Skipper is a bit eccentric AND not very compliant, I am anticipating that the appointment will not run as smoothly as Duchess's appointments always have. However, I realized something last week that may come up at the appointment, and that probably deserved some contemplation: Skipper, while producing massive quantities of "art" at preschool and home, never draws any representational pictures. At all. This is the kind of thing she produces:
















And this is a drawing from 2008 by Duchess, at age 3.5, with pretty standard developmental milestones included. Notice that the person has body parts.

This is a drawing by Skipper, from this week, with pretty standard Skipper details. She likes to do a randomish line scribble, and then meticulously color it in.


















Sometimes after the picture is complete, she'll SAY it's a picture of something, but it's very clear that she never actually sets out to represent something. I really like some of the stuff she produces, but I would also like to see her try to draw a person. Or ANYTHING specific.

I've been waffling over whether or not this is something I should worry about. I'm 99% confident that it's not a developmental issue. Nobody who can color that carefully has motor coordination issues, and Skipper is a keen observer; she knows what things look like. It seems like a straightforward case of Skipper refusing do something at which she is likely to fail to perform perfectly.* That's not going to make me cringe less next week when the doctor asks Skipper to draw a person.

But, you know, this is Skipper, and this is her life. There aren't any drawings of people in it, but that's okay. Just now I looked outside to check on her ("I'm going to go sit in the sun and read a book!" she announced before going out) and this is what I saw. She's sitting there "reading" the book out loud - "and then the paleontologists found a HUUUUUUUUGE fossil head!" - and she's totally happy.

* I completely understand that impulse. However, in Skipper, the impulse meets her really impressive power of refusal, and mutates into a massive Wall of No that I fear might get in the way of her emotional and intellectual growth...