How Are Children's Pictures and Drawings Used in Psychological Evaluation?
Children may not always be able to express their feelings, thoughts and experiences verbally like adults. Painting and drawing can be one of the natural tools that facilitate self-expression, especially in childhood.
In the psychological evaluation process, the drawings made by the child can be handled together with the interview, observation, developmental history, information obtained from the family and standard evaluation tools used when necessary.
No psychological diagnosis can be made by looking at a child's drawing alone, and no definitive conclusions can be drawn about the child's personality, family relationships, or mental state.
What Can Children's Drawings Tell Us?
Drawings can be useful in terms of the child's self-expression and making it easier to talk about some issues during the interview. Sharing his/her own narrative through a picture drawn by the child can help him/her express his/her feelings, relationships or events.
The important thing here is not only how the painting looks, but also what the child tells about the painting he made and in what context the drawing emerges.
Do Colors Have a Psychological Meaning?
It is not right to deduce a specific psychological condition from the colors used by children alone. For example, there can be no definitive interpretation that the use of black means depression, the use of red means anger, or any other specific color means happiness.
The choice of color can be influenced by many factors such as the child's age, developmental level, personal preference, the materials in his/her hand, the subject he/she draws and the context in which he/she is in.
How to Evaluate Dimensions, Positions and Shapes in Drawing?
The size of the figures, their position on the page, line features, or some details may attract attention during the evaluation. But none of these traits alone are evidence of a particular emotion, personality trait, or psychological problem.
For this reason, it is not appropriate to reach definite conclusions such as "the child is anxious", "he/she has low self-confidence", "he/she is angry with his/her family" or similar through a single detail in a picture.
How to Handle Family Pictures
Drawing the child's family can be a starting point that makes it easier to talk about family members and relationships. The child may be asked who the people he drew were, what happened in the picture, and what the scene he drew meant for him.
The fact that one of the family members is not drawn, one person is drawn larger than the others, or the figures are close or far away from each other does not mean anything definite about family relations alone. These characteristics can only be addressed in conjunction with the child's narrative and other assessment findings.
Can Children's Drawings Be Used to Diagnose?
Child illustrations alone are not enough to diagnose ADHD, depression, anxiety disorder, trauma, autism, or any other psychological or developmental condition.
When diagnostic evaluation is required, the child's developmental history, clinical interviews, behavioral observations, information from the family and school, and appropriate scientific evaluation tools are evaluated together.
How Can Drawings Be Used in the Therapy Process?
Drawing can be used not only for assessment purposes but also to help the child express themselves during the therapy process.
- Recognizing and expressing emotions
- Facilitating the telling of events
- Talking about fears and anxieties
- Addressing family and friendships
- Exploring the child's strengths
- Facilitating age-appropriate conversations of challenging experiences
- Problem solving and developing alternative ideas
What is Taken Together in Psychological Evaluation?
The child's psychological assessment is not only based on the pictures he/she makes. According to the need, the following information sources can be used together:
- Clinical interview with the child
- Parental interview and developmental history
- Behavioral observation
- Information received from the school and the teacher
- Psychological scales and tests suitable for age and reason for application
- Play and other methods of expression
- Paintings and drawings made by the child
Why Should You Be Careful When Interpreting Children's Pictures?
Children's drawings can be quite remarkable for adults. However, it can be misleading to reach definite conclusions about the child's subconscious, personality or family relations by looking at a single picture.
For this reason, drawings should not be considered as a “mind reading” method, but as one of the tools that can facilitate the child's self-expression and support comprehensive clinical evaluation.
When Can a Psychological Assessment Be Considered?
The child's drawings alone do not indicate that they require professional support. However, in addition to the drawings, comprehensive psychological evaluation can be considered if there are significant behavioral changes, intense anxiety or fears, introversion, school problems, sleep problems, tantrums, changes after a traumatic experience, or other symptoms that affect daily functioning.