Children's drawing was studied by psychologists who tried to understand its meaning and diagnostic possibilities through it, educators who dealt with the question of how to use drawing to support personality development, but also by artists for whom children's drawing was an inspiration. The analysis of the drawing received a new dimension with the knowledge that, like other human behavior, it provides information about the child's emotional experience, personality and relationships. In this context, projective diagnostics and its inseparable components - projective techniques - have been developing for the past sixty years within the framework of psychological diagnostics and psychotherapy (that is, art therapy as part of expressive therapies used in a wide range of children's clientele).

In the psychological literature, the term projection became established thanks to psychoanalysis. S. Freud described it as one of the psychological defense mechanisms. The authorship of the term projective techniques is attributed to Lawrence K. Frank, who publicly used the term in 1939 and compared them to X-rays.

Projective techniques are defined by Hartl, Hartlová (2010) as methods based on the investigation of personality using unconscious, projective processes revealing the emotions, wishes, opinions and character traits of the investigated person.

Projective methods are characterized not only by the nature of the stimulus material, but above all by the approach to the interpretation of test results. In projective techniques, this is a loosely structured task that allows for an almost unlimited number of responses, a global approach to personality assessment, and usually effectiveness in revealing hidden, latent, or unconscious aspects of personality.

The disadvantage of projective methods is the problematic validity and interpretation, which is often influenced by the personality of the administrator, and the diligence in evaluating with an emphasis on time, the theoretical preparation of the administrator and his great experience in using the relevant projective method.

In the wide arsenal of projective techniques, children's drawing has found its place.

As soon as the child can depict forms and objects, he begins with unconscious objectification - the projection of personal feelings. Drawing is mostly a pleasant and attractive activity for children, it eliminates fear or reluctance to express themselves creatively.

Of all the means available to the psychologist to get to know the child more thoroughly and explore his personality, drawing represents the most suitable way of expression, because with drawing the child "talks graphically" without necessarily having to enter the spoken word. Here, the child reveals contents that he would otherwise not be able to express easily or because he does not yet have words. Like in a dream, the contents of the mind are veiled in a form that is not even obvious to him - he uses images and symbols that dampen the rawness and urgency of the contents of the experience (Davidová, 2001).

Vágnerová (according to: Říčan, Krejčířová et al.) specifies:

  1. The drawing can provide an indicative estimate of the level of development of mental abilities. For this purpose, it is primarily used for preschool and younger school age; at a later age, he loses this ability to differentiate, as his drawing skills have matured.
  2. The drawing also reflects some of the child's personality characteristics, primarily the emotionally tuned quality of self-evaluation, but also e.g. attitudes towards other people.

The picture is an expression of thoughts, feelings and efforts, in which psychological and other processes are reflected, the level of sensorimotor skills, visuomotor coordination, temperament, emotional experience and attitudes of the child towards himself and other people are reflected in them.

In this context, thematic drawings such as a drawing of a human figure or a family are mainly used. Thus, in connection with projective methods, we are talking about graphic projective methods, where we include the Human Figure Drawing Test, the Family Drawing Test, the Enchanted Family Drawing Test and others.

In 1926, F. Goodenough created the Human Figure Drawing Test, the conception of which was based on the assumption that a child's drawing develops naturally and its development is manifested by an increase in details, but also by exciting correctness and accuracy, so it can be used and is still used today as a method for the indicative assessment of a child's intellectual abilities.

The test was expanded and revised by D. B. Harris in 1968, the Czech version is known as the Šturma Character Drawing Test, Vágnerová. In this test, it is assumed that the child identifies with the drawn character and attributes to it such characteristics and features as it has itself. But the drawn character can also represent the wish of the child or a person very close to him. Therefore, the results of this method must be verified by a subsequent interview with the child and the use of other test methods. This useful test is used to get to know a child's personality when we suspect intellectual, emotional or adaptation deficits.

Family drawing as a projective method has been widely encountered in child psychological diagnosis since the 1930s. The drawing of the family and its modification, the drawing of the enchanted family, were introduced by Matějček together with Strobachová (1981).

This theme drawing is recommended for children from six to twelve years old, exceptionally outside this age range. Preschool children are not so developed in terms of drawing that they can satisfactorily depict their ideas about the family, and adolescent children tend to be critical of their performance, which is a serious obstacle to their free drawing expression.

The drawing of the family can be seen as a symbolic processing of the constellation of the primary social group - the family, as the child perceives and experiences it and how it evaluates its individual members. The way one portrays one's family expresses one's opinions, attitudes, and feelings. The child shows his family as it appears to him from his subjective point of view. In this drawing, he shows past experiences that influenced the child, wishes for what the future could look like (anticipation of the future), the drawing can be processed to include all desirable changes that cannot be expected in reality.

It is important to use the drawing of the family as a stimulus for a conversation with the child, and this drawing has substantial informational value.

The Enchanted Family Drawing Test was created more or less by accident in the fifties of the last century. Its publication appeared in 1957.

The Enchanted Family Drawing Test is a very useful projective method that was started by Matějček and Strohbachová (1981). The authors chose the symbolism of animals because it seemed to them to be clearer and more understandable than the symbolism of plants and things (today the symbolism of plants and things is also used). The experience with this test is also very good in combination with the family drawing test, especially with children of school age, and its importance is undeniable when examining the family. The child does not need to be aware of the symbolic expression of the individual characters, so he is able to express information on paper that he would find difficult to verbalize.

The main strength of this method, Matějček and Stohbachová (1981) emphasize, is in the concept of "key persons".

The significance of bewitching family members into an animal lies in the ability to observe the character traits of individual family members, which are reflected here on the basis of free associations into general characters attributed to individual animals. The mother is most often depicted in the form of a bird, then a cat. The father is most often bewitched by a beast, then by a dog.

The drawing of the enchanted family significantly complements the child's view of his own family, especially when it comes to the distribution of roles, power and statuses, it points to hidden conflicts, rivalry, feelings of inferiority (Langmeier, Krejčířová, 1998).

When assessing the emotional perception in the family, it is important to combine the drawing of the family with the drawing of the bewitched family, because the drawing of the family does reveal this issue, but the symbolism of animals better shows the emotional relationships of children to their parents on the one hand, and at the same time, on the other hand, represents a deeper penetration into the emotional atmosphere in the family, because it allows the child to ask a greater number of questions after the interview.

When using projective methods, or drawings of the human figure, drawings of the family and drawings of the enchanted family, one must be careful and use their results as a guide. Both test methods improve contact with the child client to facilitate verbalization.

Drawing projective tests are commonly used in clinical practice and there are many of them. There is no reason why drawing methods should be reserved exclusively for psychologists. On the contrary, it is possible to make them clear to experts in other professions dealing with children's emotional and social bonds, because an empathic conversation with a child is not only the domain of psychologists, anyone who comes into personal contact with a child, even for a short time, should be able to do it.

Drawing methods can be used by a social worker as an initial deepening, so that he can think about the child and his relationships and confront them with other methods and experts, so that he can establish contact with the child and open communication with him, based on the fact that the picture imitates reality as the child perceives it, or would like to perceive it.

The social worker must connect the obtained information with the client's current personal situation from the interview, or from other diagnostic procedures. The work ethic of a social worker also includes the readiness to offer feedback to the child in an appropriate manner, to answer possible questions. The prerequisite is mutual cooperation, trust and an explanation that it is not really a test of drawing skills.

Author: PhDr. et B. Jaroslava Mihalovičová List of bibliographic references:

Davidová, R. : Drawing as a child's knowledge tool. Prague: Portal 2001, 205 p. Hartl, P. – Hartlová, H.: Great psychological dictionary. Prague: Portal 2010, 797 p. Langmeier, J. – Krejčířová, D.: Developmental psychology. 3rd revised and supplemented edition. Prague: Grada Publishing 1998, 344 p. Vágnerová, M.: Developmental psychology. Prague: Karolinum, Charles University Publishing House, 1999, 353 p. Matějček, Z. – Strohbachová, I.: Drawing of the Enchanted Family. In: Czechoslovak psychology, vol. 25, 1981, no. 4, p. 316-325 Šturma, J. – Vágnerová, M.: Human Figure Drawing. Bratislava: Psychodiagnostic and didactic tests, n. Mr. 1982 Vybíral, Z. – Roubal, J.: Contemporary psychotherapy. Prague: Portal 2011, 744 p.