Art Assessment Case Study

Art Assessment

Sometimes children have difficulty expressing worries and concerns, through words and verbal communication. For therapist working with children, it can be helpful to work with the child through drawing and artwork. Art assessments can be useful in helping to facilitate understanding and discussion of the stress the child is facing in a way that is less intimidating to the child. Below is the background information, summary of scoring, summary of interview and recommondations of a art assessment for a client.

Background Information

Client is a five year-old Korean male, attending kindergarten. Client was abandoned by his mother and father at birth and is adopted by his grandparents. Client does not keep in contact with his parents.

The client received a total overall score of five or undetermined for the Child Human Figure drawing. Client’s drawing was absent for all seven of the serious seven on the screening inventory. The client’s drawing did show the chest and navel area, however when therapist asked client about the picture, the chest and navel were not specifically addressed or included in his explanation of the picture. Therapist determined this was not an explicit drawing of genitalia, because it was not addressed or labeled. Of the remaining twenty-one screening inventory items for the Child Human Figure drawing, the client’s drawing had three present. The first of the three being that the drawing had a visibly present belly button. The belly button is in the lower abdomen area, adding 2 points to the overall score. Additionally the client’s drawing had present elements of “transparency” or the body being visible under clothing (Hardin & Petereson, 1997). In the client’s drawing, the torso is visible underneath the clothes whereas other body parts are covered, adding an additional two points to the overall score. Lastly, the client’s drawing demonstrates legs tightly together, where the legs are two dimensional with a line drawn in-between, adding one more point to the overall score of five (Hardin & Petereson,

For secrets in the family and secrets that he keeps to himself, the client answered yes to both, however the client answered he would not get in trouble if he had told someone the secret. The dynamic of the family portrayed through the interview is that of the grandmother and client being enmeshed while the grandfather is isolated from the duo. The grandfather is viewed negatively and the secret may have to do with family dynamics that is out in the open between the grandmother, grandfather and the client himself as he does not feel he will get in trouble if the told the