Children can express their inner world with pictures. They can express their feelings, their current agenda, the situations that occupy their minds, their wishes and dreams. Picture tests and evaluation techniques used in psychology are also used with other methods; It is used together, such as family interview, game observation and school evaluation. It is also necessary to know the sociocultural environment the child is in. A study conducted in this way makes a much more accurate evaluation possible.
Davido1 explains: 'No matter how good their vocabulary is, children have more difficulty expressing what they think than adults because their vocabulary is not yet developed enough. In this context, painting is a privileged means of expression for the child because it does not require any skill other than being able to hold a pencil.' Painting allows the child to express himself without words. In the famous book, the Little Prince expressed his imagination in the bull snake that swallowed an elephant. In fact, from a very young age, children's ability to draw freely is blunted, and children are squeezed into a drawing world where their freedom is restricted and certain shapes are repeated due to fear of reality.
Drawing skills, like other skills, develop step by step and vary with age. It matures through stages. These stages are universal; It is the phase of smearing, scribbling, scratching, tadpole, intellectual reality, visual reality and depiction in space.
The first human image drawn by the child usually consists of a large round head and two lines coming out of the head. As the child gets older, he begins to draw the human figure in more detail. Studies have shown that children portray themselves in the pictures they draw of people. When we examine children's drawings from different parts of the world, we see that children of the same age group make very similar drawings. A child aged five or six can simply draw people, houses, trees, flowers, sun, clouds and birds.
In drawing studies with children, the psychologist observes the child without intervening as much as possible, where on the page he draws the picture, in what order he draws the shapes, whether he scribbles or not, where he uses an eraser, drawing features - suppression, blurring. He pays attention to many points such as drawing, crossing over, and the colors he uses. At the same time, the child can tell stories or talk about daily events while drawing. The child's reaction to shapes that are not what he wants is also monitored. Does he try to draw again and again, scratch over it, turn it into something else, or does he ask for a new piece of paper and immediately throw the previous one away?
Now let's take a look at what the pictures say;
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Faint lines, frequent use of eraser, and inability to finish the picture indicate that he is an insecure, shy and introverted child. Trying to draw everything with straight lines and proportions brings to mind a realistic perspective. Sensitive children use more curved lines.
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It is also possible to evaluate drawing paper according to time. The middle of the page indicates the present, the left indicates the past, and the right indicates the future. Centering the picture on the page shows that the child has a balanced inner world.
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The connection between colors and emotions has been known for a long time. Red-anger/aggression/impulsivity, blue-calm/self-control/harmony, green-hope/relatedness, white-justice, yellow-generosity, dependency, black-sadness/mourning/shyness. It is examined whether the child uses colors when evaluating the picture and, if so, which colors are dominant. To reiterate, in the evaluation, all details are considered as part of a whole; neither only lines and shapes nor only colors are interpreted.
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One of the most common drawings we encounter in children's drawings is the house. Home symbolically represents situations such as a sense of security, shelter, family environment and relationship with the outside world. House drawing includes many details, such as doors, windows, roof, chimney, stairs, fences, garden of the house.
House in Children's Drawings
The door of the house shows how it establishes a relationship with the outside world. Not scratching the door indicates that you are closed to establishing relationships with other people. Having the door open indicates a strong need for closeness. Windows similarly demonstrate relationality. Curtains indicate that accessibility is low and the window Failure to do so may indicate hostility.
The veranda in front of the house represents the need for protection against threats from the environment. A blocked roadway home may be an indication of perceived anxiety and aggression. The absence of a door or road may also be related to the perception of failure.
The roof of the house shows the mental state. Houses with smoke coming out of their chimneys represent closeness in close relationships. The chimney is also a symbol of sexual maturity and balance.
'A house with open windows and many doors, well centered on the paper, shows that the child has a soft character, is open and sharing. The surroundings of the house are generally harmonious and measured. On the other hand, if the house is small, if the child has not used all the paper, if the windows are small or windowless, if the house is surrounded by isolated elements or huge trees, this picture shows the child's emotional problems.'
It is developmentally normal for children before the age of 6 to draw windows attached to the walls of the house. The reason for this is that children do not fully understand the concept of space until this age. That's why they try to fill the entire drawing paper.
Pictures, which are an important part of psychotherapy studies carried out with children, are a part of psychological support with their healing aspects as well as being used for evaluation. It is a frequently used method, especially when working with quiet, shy, introverted children who have difficulty communicating verbally.
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