1 Children's second language
Drawings are a second language children use to express their inner world. Their interpretation relies on developmental psychology theory – indeed, it is immediately apparent that children of the same age draw similar elements. Nevertheless, each child has his own personal style, which sheds light on his character and critical events in his life.
Drawing interpretation is designed to do more than answer whether the drawing is appropriate for the child's chronological age in terms of its elements. Rather, it analyzes the child's style to answer such diverse questions as why the child chose to draw in this particular manner – in terms of drawing tools, choice of objects, their spatial distribution on the page – why he chose these particular colors, etc. Together, the answers to all those questions are combined to provide a broad personality profile covering the child's performance in various areas in his life.
Children's drawings offer a reliable projective tool that can be used to understand children's minds, talents, feelings and difficulties. Studying it, however, requires systematic guidance and practice, relying on valid scientific knowledge and clear "evidence", or indications in the drawings. This is particularly true given the fact that throughout the y ears many myths have grown around the meanings of certain aspects in children's drawings, which have been proven false. Finally, arriving at significant conclusions regarding a child's personality requires the ability to analyze and cross-reference multiple elements appearing in a large number of drawings.