Have you ever had your child, client, or student draw a picture of a person, or of themself? Did you know that the drawing can tell you a lot about the child’s understanding of their body and environment? That’s what this episode is all about! And of course, stay tuned ‘til the end to hear tips, tricks, and strategies to help improve body awareness, spatial relations, and more!
Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at Harkla.Co/Podcast.
Brought To You By Harkla
This podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products, child development courses, and The Harkla Sensory Club.
Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now.
Have you ever had your child, client, or student draw a picture of a person, or of themself? Did you know that the drawing can tell you a lot about the child’s understanding of their body and environment? That’s what this episode is all about! And of course, stay tuned ‘til the end to hear tips, tricks, and strategies to help improve body awareness, spatial relations, and more!
Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at Harkla.Co/Podcast.
Brought To You By Harkla
This podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products, child development courses, and The Harkla Sensory Club.
Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now.
Welcome to the sensory project show with Rachel and Jessica. We're here to share all things sensory occupational therapy, parenting, self care and overall health and wellness from the therapists perspective, providing raw, honest, fun ideas and strategies for parents and families to implement into daily life. Thank you so much for joining us. Before we jump into today's episode, we have got to talk about a company that we recently discovered Harkla. Not only do they make high quality sensory products and supplements, but the owners are also local to us in Boise.
Jessica:We had the opportunity to sit down and chat with them and our missions totally aligned. You know that we only recommend companies and products that we trust and use ourselves. Which is why we're so excited to share this amazing company with you.
Rachel:Stay tuned to hear more later in this episode, as well as to get a special discount.
Jessica:Okay, well, let's start today's episode.
Rachel:Hey, guys, welcome back to another episode of the sensory project show. This is number 135.
Jessica:Yeah, thanks for being here, you guys, if you are a new listener, welcome to the show. If you are one of our lifers, welcome back and hopefully you guys like this episode,
Rachel:Today, we are talking about an assessment tool that we have used before, it's called the good enough draw person test. And it sounds really weird when you're talking about it as a standardized assessment. But it's actually really cool test.
Jessica:Yeah, and so a little bit of background, we'll link in the show notes a couple of articles so that if you're really interested in the history and understanding it more, you can read about it. But it actually began as a psychological test. So Florence Good Enough, was a child psychologist, and she was interested in replacing a specific intelligence test with a non-verbal measure. And so she decided that using the child's drawing, and creating criteria of, you know ,how much details in the drawing could be used as an effective tool.
Rachel:So over the years, the draw person test has been revised and modified. And there's obviously a lot that we could go into about the history and specifics about it, but that's not why we're here today. We would really like to talk about what you can tell when you were having a child draw a picture of themselves, because there are so many different things to look for, whether you're a parent, whether you're a therapist, we're going to kind of give you just a scoop on observations, and then we'll share some activities as well to work on.
Jessica:So if you decide that you want to actually use the test, the protocol, then it kind of works like this: the child is asked to draw a picture of a person. Then once they're finished, the picture is scored and when it's scored, you actually have like a checklist. And you can find it online, it's super easy to find. But you use the checklist to score the picture and add it all up. And you can see where the child's at based on their age level, based on their drawing, and so you're able to tell like, Is the child able to draw a picture at age level, basically. So it is it's pretty simple. You can find it online, super easy, but I think it's it's really interesting and I always like having kiddos, draw a picture of a person, and I'm not using the actual assessment tool. But over the years, I've learned watching a kiddo draw a picture of a person what, you know, I can just kind of see like, what it's going to
Rachel:it does. And, you know, we've learned that having them tell me that do this during a session, it gives us a great idea of activities to implement into their sessions. Maybe to work towards their goals. So maybe it's not a specific goal that we're working towards, but it's an underlying skill that will help them reach their goal. So it's a really cool assessment, if you're using it as an assessment, but it's also really eye opening, not using it as an assessment, just having them practice those skills. So let's talk about from an OT standpoint, like what we're observing and some questions that we are asking ourselves.
Jessica:I think the biggest thing that it tells us is how the child sees themselves, especially if you're asking them, draw a picture of yourself.
Rachel:Yes.
Jessica:Aand you can look Read it and you can see does the child understand and know their body?
Rachel:Absolutely. Another thing is you can identify if the child knows where their body parts are, as well as, where their body parts connect. So are they putting their elbow at the top of their shoulder or are they putting their you know, all five fingers coming from their hand? Is their thumb opposition? Do they have three fingers? Like? Are they recognizing what's going on with their body?
Jessica:And if I'm remembering correctly on the scoring checklist, one of the things is three dimensional, so is it a stick figure? Is it three dimensional? And of course, this is going to depend on the child's age, but for an older child, if they're just drawing a stick figure, that can tell us a lot about how they see their own body.
Rachel:As well as their environment.
Jessica:Yeah, so it can also tell us if the child is able to understand body schema and what this is, is the ability to unconsciously register the position of body parts in space.
Rachel:So big connection to proprioception, like we're gonna talk a lot about proprioception later on. But another thing that it helps with is the child's language and social skills. And so being able to identify what their body looks like, how it's moving, and connecting with the environment, as well as how other people's bodies are moving and we talked about nonverbal body language all the time. If they aren't able to draw an accurate picture of themselves, then how are they going to be able to observe someone else's nonverbal body language?
Jessica:Totally. It also can tell us a lot about spatial relations and so this goes along with size, location, latorality. So looking at all of those different visual perception, understanding components of how big is the head compared to the body. Is the leg positioned in the right spot in coordination to the body? That kind of thing.
Rachel:Now, I want to point out that this isn't a, this isn't an art test, right? We don't care about how good the drawing is. We're focusing on the conception of where the body parts are those spatial relations, like, if it's a terrible drawing, who cares. But if they are scoring age level on the on the standardization checklist, then great. That's awesome. But fine motor assessments are completely differen and visual motor and perception. So keep that in mind as well.
Jessica:And it's such an interesting thing, too, because you'll have a lot of kids who maybe they don't really care, maybe they don't like drawing, they don't like, you know, making any type of art. So their picture might be more sloppy, and they might do it a lot quicker. And so that's something to take into account as well as maybe they're, you know, missing body parts because of impulsivity. And because it's really hard to sit at the table, and it's really hard to hold a pencil. So those are all, you know, different observations you can look at. And then the other thing, too, is kind of the opposite of a kiddo who is maybe a little bit anxious and so they really take their time, and they really try to make it perfect.
Rachel:Yes and I always timed my kiddos when they would do this test. And I'd keep track like, do they do it in 30 seconds or do they do it in 15 minutes? You know, and being able to identify that as important as well. And we'll talk about some self esteem later on down the road, too. But something like clinical observations that we want to understand, that we look for, regardless of if we're doing a standardized assessment or not. This is just our OT brains not being able to turn off. The first thing is the pencil grip. How is the child holding the pencil? Do they have a functional grasp or not? And you know, you're not going to mess with it while they're doing this, but just take into consideration what their pencils doing.
Jessica:Yeah, and you're gonna look at how they're sitting at the table. Are they able to sit up right at the table? Are they slouched. They have a really hard time maintaining their attention to the table because their postural control is a challenge.
Rachel:Another one is bilateral coordination. So a big one to look for is paper stabilization. So are they holding their paper with their opposite hand or is their opposite that hand just hanging in their lap? Are they just not even paying any attention to the paper moving while they're drawing? Those are important skills to look at as well.
Jessica:Yeah. And then going along with the spatial relation is that visual perception and being able to draw size and location accurately and see everything they're drawing on their paper where it belongs.
Rachel:Yep. And then looking at ocular motor skills with their head position. Are they in midlin, while they're drawn? Do they have their head rested completely on the side of their arm? And we have a podcast on this that goes into more detail, but being able to identify if their eyes are working together the right way. That's important.
Jessica:And then you're also notice how much force they're using on their writing utensil. Are they pushing really hard? Are they using really light pressure? Does their hand fatigue really quickly? Oftentimes, if the child is pushing really hard on their pencil, their hand is going to fatigue quicker. How much control do they have while they're drawing as well?
Rachel:So for our therapists out there, if you are actually using this as a standardized assessment with your kiddos, and you're incorporating it in your evaluation, then there's a couple things that we want to note, just from personal experience. The first thing is, make sure that you're scoring at the same with every child, if you know you're counting how the circle ends, like if the circle comes together at the top, make sure that it's consistent for every child that you are working with.
Jessica:And also make sure you're using the same verbiage with all of your children. I mean, based on the child's age, it might be a little bit different here and there. But make sure that you're not over cueing the child,. Not only because we want the child to be able to problem solve and do the task more independently. But also, if you give very few cues to one child and more hues to another child, then you're not actually providing them with the same test.
Rachel:Exactly, yes. Now make sure that you follow the instructions carefully. Some of the wording is really confusing on the test. So when you're scoring it and make sure that you understand exactly what you're looking for when you're scoring it. So, if you're not sure, then chat with someone who is, do some research, look it up, test out some of the links that we are going to share in the show notes to help you.
Jessica:I also think that having writing down your notes and your observations while the child is drawing. Notice and write down all the things that we just talked about, write down all those observations so that the next time you come back, and do the same thing. You can kind of go back and review and say, Oh, my gosh, last time, they weren't stabilizing their paper, but this time they are so their bilateral coordination has improved.
Rachel:Yes, I love that. And then the last thing makes sure that if you're in the clinic with other practitioners using this test, that you are collaborating with them to make sure that it's standardized. So like we talked about earlier, make sure everyone is giving the test the same way, providing the same cues, and it's standardized. That's the goal.
Jessica:Yeah, I was gonna say otherwise, there's really no point in using it.
Rachel:Exactly.
Jessica:And if you're, if you're using it just for observations, then obviously you don't have to be as precise and picky with all of these things. So that's always an option as well.
Rachel:So going along with that. So if you are a parent, and you want to implement this activity into your daily routine to just kind of check on what we mentioned earlier, then here are some ideas to kind of help facilitate this activity.
Jessica:I think first of all, if your child has never drawn a picture of a person, they might need a little bit of help in the beginning. Maybe you draw a picture of a person first, and then they can copy it and imitate and then you go from there to add more details. But if they've never done it before, they might need a little bit of help.
Rachel:Yeah, it's a very novel task in the beginning, to take a 3D human and put it on paper. When you think about it, it's not easy.
Jessica:I know I just like the way you said it. Putting a 3D human and putting them on paper. I love it.
Rachel:Okay, so after you practice and make sure that they know how to do it, just make sure that you're not offering too much assistance. So if they ask you a question like, how do you draw glasses? Then respond with a question and say, Oh, that's a great question. Well, what shape are they? You know, and, and don't tell them, Well, you draw two circles, and then a line in the middle, and then two lines on the outside of the circles. Like, don't give them the answer, just have them try to problem solve through it, and figure it out on their own.
Jessica:One of my favorite things is to have a mirror nearby. If you don't have a mirror, that's fine, too. But when you're drawing the different feet, when your child is drawing the different features on, say, the face, if you notice that they are missing something. Maybe they're missing eyebrows, then you can ask them to either look at you or look in the mirror themselves and say, what else do you see on your face that you could add? And see if they can figure it out.
Rachel:Yes. Now observe their self esteem. With this, are they getting frustrated with how they're drawing? Are they upset that it doesn't look perfect? Are they trying to make it perfect? Like we mentioned earlier. Do they not care about it at all? So you know, if they're really hard on themselves, like I can't draw, and this is terrible, this is stupid, and they get up and walk away. Well, now, you know, you have some things to work on with them in the emotional regulation department, as well as the fine motor and visual perceptual department. So keep that in mind as well.
Jessica:Absolutely. And you know what, there's been plenty of times where kids have been like, Nope, I'm not trying to picture of a person.
Rachel:Yeah, exactly.
Jessica:It happens.
Rachel:Yes.
Jessica:So, all right, so let's talk about some ideas of different activities that you can incorporate at home and incorporate in therapy that can help build up these skills that we've been talking about.
Rachel:So first thing is sit across from each other and point to each other's facial parts while you guys are playing a game. So maybe you point to their nose, and you say, what is that? Or you say, Can you point to my ear? Or can you touch your lips? And change up how you're giving the instruction to make it easier or more challenging.
Jessica:I think that this should start from such a young age. Like, as soon as your child has started to develop some control with their arms and their hands, and they're able to grasp toys, that's the perfect time to start playing these games of this is your nose, where's my nose, where's your nose, and make silly noises with it, turn it into a song. I mean, this can start before your child was even walking.
Rachel:Definitely. One of my favorites is to roll the child up into a blanket taco, and to pretend to put different ingredients on top of them and talk about the different body parts that you're putting the ingredients on. So you roll them up, you say I'm gonna sprinkle cheese on top of your head. and next comes the lettuce, I'm gonna put it on your shins. And if they're like What are your shins, then you can show them and improve their body awareness all at the same time.
Jessica:Yes, and I love the idea of, I call it sabotaging them. So maybe you are saying I'm going to sprinkle cheese on your head and when you do it, you actually do it on their stomach. So you're kind of sabotaging the situation and seeing if they can recognize that what you said and are doing don't match. And if they're like, Hey, that's not my head, my head is right here and see if they can correct you to improve that body awareness.
Rachel:I love it. That's so fun. And that's a great way to like bond with the kiddo and like, build that rapport with them and just laugh and be silly and super goofy.
Jessica:Yeah.
Rachel:Another thing that you'll want to incorporate is prepositions to help improve those spatial relations, like the side, below, on top, under, next to, things like that. And there's a game. What is that game? The position.
Jessica:I know exactly which game you're talking about, and I don't know what it's called.
Rachel:I know.
Jessica:With the cars, right?
Rachel:Yes, the cards and like the little toy chair and the bear and the duck.
Jessica:But you know what, this is something that you can do every day, with anything that you and your child are doing, or you can set it up in the clinic as an obstacle course. So if you are getting ready for dinner and you are having your child set the table, and they are getting out plates and silverware and cups, you can tell them specific places to put all of these dishes. So maybe you tell them put the knife on the plate and the fork next to the plate.
Rachel:Yes.
Jessica:And you can do it with cleaning up toys. You can do it with an obstacle course and maybe you tell the child, okay, we're gonna set up the tunnel, put the tunnel next to the couch, or, you can do it in so many ways.
Rachel:Absolutely super fun to do that.
Jessica:You can even get me on now I'm on a roll. You could even just have your child get their 10 favorite toys, and play the game of put your horse on top of the box.
Rachel:Yes, and you can have them. Yeah, and you can have them put their toys like all over the house and silly places. And you know, just make it creative and goofy, and they'll have a blast doing it. Like it's a super simple game. And parents you can sit down, you don't even have to like be wrestling on the floor with them. You can be sitting and resting.
Jessica:Exactly. You can be multitasking, maybe you're you know, having a glass of wine while you're playing.
Rachel:Yes.
Jessica:All about these spatial relations,
Rachel:Love it. If you have a glass of wine while you're working on it, then that'll probably be a lot more fun for the kid.
Jessica:We're gonna give you guys a couple of like specific game ideas, because there are a lot of games out there that can help improve body awareness.
Rachel:Alright guys, let's talk a little bit more about today's sponsor Harkla. Like we said earlier, they make high quality products, things like sensory swings, weighted items, compression sheets, and supplements that everyone could benefit from.
Jessica:If Rachel can successfully install a swing in her house and if you didn't see her Instagram Stories A while back, then you're missing out, you guys need to just watch them because it was great. But if Rachel can do it, then you can too. Not saying anything bad about Rachel. I'm just saying that it's so easy. It's a simple process that takes less than a day and provides results that will basically last as long as your house does.
Rachel:And if you're in a clinic setting, this company is perfect for all of your sensory needs. Their equipment will withstand even the roughest of sensory seekers and with their lifetime guarantee should something crazy happen, they will replace it.
Jessica:Okay, stay tuned, because at the end of this episode, we're gonna give you a discount for when you purchase an item from Harkla. So the first game that I was thinking of was Operation. Do you remember that game?
Rachel:Oh my gosh, yes. I love that game.
Jessica:Yeah, and you have to like, get the little, are they like organs out or there like I don't even know?
Rachel:The bones and organs and all the funny things.
Jessica:All the different body parts. So that would be a good one to have to really work on body awareness, and maybe even following instructions of like, get the item out of the leg or whatever.
Rachel:Um, another one is called Howie's Owie's and it's like a magnet board with band aids. Kids love band aids and you can put the different band aids on different parts of Howie. Because he's like in a swimsuit, and he like his whole body on the magnet board. But that's another fun one to work on body awareness.
Jessica:Yes. Simon says. I mean, what a classic game. Simon says. Touch your nose and your ear. You know,
Rachel:Simon Says first touch your knee, then touch your eyeball.
Jessica:Ooh, yeah. Even Simon says touch something on your face and touch something that's touching the floor. Something like that.
Rachel:Okay, so there you go. Guys get creative. Hokey Pokey. You know, you don't have to be at the roller skating rink to do this one.
Jessica:Never did it an roller skating rink.
Rachel:You didn't?
Jessica:No..
Rachel:Yeah, you roll around in circles and they say put your left arm in cuz you got to put it in a circle.
Jessica:Well, I mean, I played Hokey Pokey just never on the roller skating rink.
Rachel:Where do you play it then?
Jessica:Like in the classroom?
Rachel:Or do you put your body parts in? In the middle? Are you in a circle?
Jessica:Yeah.
Rachel:Oh Okay. Weird. Maybe you need to come visit the Spokane roller rinks?
Jessica:Yeah, there it is. Um, maybe getting an activity where, if you're able to get outside right now would be great or when it is nice to get outside, grab some chalk and have your child lay on the ground or you lay on the ground and the other person uses the chalk to draw around the body.
Rachel:Yes, I love that activity. Always you guys heavy work activities. We say this all the time. But first heavy work when in doubt, prop it out. And you know, the proprioceptive system is the one that's mostly reliant on our body awareness. So if you can do those heavy work activities, it will send more messages to the joints, muscles, and tendons to tell the body part or the brain where it is in space.
Jessica:Yes, like having a mirror available. If you could have a mirror in every single room of your house, every single room in whatever clinic you're working in, so that you can do more games in the mirror, and how have your child look at themselves in the mirror and name their body parts, draw person on the mirror,
Rachel:have them trace their own body outline or your outline while you're standing in the mirror.
Jessica:Yes, mirrors. A game changer.
Rachel:Yep, you can even get dressed in front of a mirror. That's a simple modification to improve dressing skills too.
Jessica:Yep. Eating in front of the mirror is great as well.
Rachel:Yes, and going along with mirrors. Another fun one is to take a clear plastic sheet that's like plastic, not like a one of those things that go in the binder of sheet protector. It just needs to be like, firm and hang it up, or hold it up and have the child use a dry erase marker and draw around your face and draw your facial expressions are their own. But it's a fun one to have them have to trace a real life image.
Jessica:So many fun, simple things that you can do to help your child improve their body awareness, their understanding of their body and space, understand those details, understand where things are on their body and around their body. Just I think I think the biggest takeaway really, is to just engage with your child engage with your client, to help them understand their body better. Because they're going to be so much more successful in life, if they have that body awareness.
Rachel:Can you just do a mic drop after that?
Jessica:Yeah.
Rachel:We're gonna leave it at that, because that is so true. It's all about connection, building rapport, taking the time to really teach these skills. They don't come natural. I mean, they're supposed to come natural, but they don't always. Sometimes we just need a little extra.
Jessica:Yeah, and even those things that do come more naturally, I think we've talked about this before, but we still have to teach our kids.
Rachel:When we say they come natural, they come natural if we're doing the right things.
Jessica:Yes. Yes.
Rachel:Most of the time, and not every situation. Of course, I should I should say that.
Jessica:Right? Disclaimer, yes. But yeah, we can't expect our kids to just learn how to do things all by themselves without us, teaching them and showing them and talking to them. And so, you know, whether your child is, you know, quote, unquote, neurotypical, or if they have sensory processing challenges, they have a diagnosis, they can still learn about their body and we have to teach them.
Rachel:And they should learn about their body.
Jessica:Absolutely.
Rachel:Yes. All right, you guys. Thank you for being here. We will be back next week with another episode. And if you have a chance to leave us a review on iTunes, we seriously appreciate your feedback more than you guys know. And, yeah, cheers.
Jessica:And whenever you share our podcast on Instagram, and through social media, it just helps other people find us and I love it when people like, tag their friends on our posts of the podcast. Like thank you so much for spreading the word and for being here with us.
Rachel:Yes. And on that note, we will chat with you guys next week.
Jessica:Okay, bye.
Rachel:All right, you guys. One more quick reminder about today's sponsor, Harkla co. A family owned company that provides therapy and sensory equipment, along with supplements. We love them. We love their mission. We love their equipment and we love that 1% of each month sales goes to the University of Washington's Autism Center, which funds cutting edge research and sponsors scholarships for children with autism to attend a summer camp. How cool is that?
Jessica:For real? I love it. They're great. They're local to Boise, which is really cool for us, but I mean, it's still cool for everyone else too. But if you're ready to jump in and check these guys out, go to harkla.co and you can save 10% on any of their products by using the code sensory. Make sure you let us know what your thoughts are and definitely go check them out.
Rachel:We are so excited to work together to help create confident kids all over the world and work towards a happier, healthier life. Just a friendly reminder, this is general information related to occupational therapy, pediatrics, and sensory integration. We do not know you or your child therefore we do not know any specific things therefore you should always refer back to your pediatrician and occupational therapists for more information.