4 Scribbles
Simple comparison of scribbles made by several children from the same kindergarten will show that they do have some distinct characteristics: some children prefer certain colors and refuse to use all crayons. Some children apply strong pressure, while others do not. Some scribbles are composed mainly of round and spiral movements spread over the entire page area, while others are dominated by broken lines in a limited area.
In order to properly interpret a scribble and explore how the child translates from the sensory modality to the drawing modality, you must gather a considerable amount of information about the child's graphic language. Most studies on emotional interpretation of children's drawings begin from that starting point. When we study graphic language we focus on the quality of the pressure produced by the child on the drawing tool and the way the child conducts it on the surface. For example, weak pressure that is not the result of physiological problem may indicate certain inhibitions. Other indicators include the style of the lines (fragile, disjointed, thin or wavy lines, etc.) and the way they cross each other; the general planning of the page; the child's ability to compose and combine various geometric forms; how he colors and fills in the forms; his attention to detail , etc. The key point of graphic expression is that the pattern of the drawing on the page is affected by the muscular pressure applied to the drawing tool, which is in turn affected by cerebral activity and the child's inner emotional world.
Scribbling is the first step in the graphic expression process, and in that it is akin to the babbling which precedes speech among infants. Although scribbling is a preliminary experience, children who scribble soon begin to develop personal preferences and show a clear desire to produce diverse and interesting artwork. Some children start scribbling already at age one, and soon proceed to draw familiar geometric forms, followed by realistic objects (house, tree, etc.). At school age you will still find evidence of scribbling, for example beside the written lines in the notebook. Writing letters, of course, requires prior knowledge in scribbling and drawing.
During this stage, the child begins to develop his spatial orientation and ability to experience the world kinesthetically as well as through the senses. The scribbling process also provides sensory stimulation, and children at this tender age often taste their crayons. At this stage, children understand the world actively and creatively, so that they affect the information rather than receive it passively. In my opinion, older children will also do well to understand the world in this active approach. During this period, it is important to allow the child to experience a broad range of nontoxic materials such as gouache, markers, finger paints, and pastel crayons, as well as a broad range of surfaces such as rough paper, papers of various sizes and colors, wooden boards, Bristol papers and newspapers.
Some children actively seek these surfaces, ignoring the fact that the surfaces may already be written over. It is also important for children to experience a wide variety of kneading materials: dough and other foodstuffs, modeling clay, etc. to stimulate their senses.
At this stage, the edges of the surface are not absolute boundaries for the child, who tends to "stray" to nearby surfaces. When the child first starts to draw, he does it accidentally and admires the product. His fascination and that of others around him challenge him to continue exploring this dimension. However, only when you begin identifying recurring trends in the drawing will you be able to start talking about deliberate drawing that represents conscious intervention by the child.
Drawing is fundamentally a muscular activity and as such, it attests to the child's temperament and adjustment to his environment.
When the child draws, he is required to balance between movements away from the body (executed by relieving pressure) and movements towards the body (executed by contraction and applying pressure). Internalizing this pressure is evidence to the maturation of certain brain and nervous system mechanisms and helps the child refine his equilibrium system. By way of drawing, the child enhances his control over various bodily organs and adjusts his bodily posture to the type of drawing he wishes to produce.
It is time to present several examples for the type of information that may be gleaned from children's scribbles. The first example was drawn by 33 month– old Natalie, who had just moved to a new kindergarten, which resulted in a significant change in her behavior. Since her drawings were collected over a period of one year, drawings from the previous and new kindergarten could be compared to identify the causes for her crisis.
Natalie's scribbles show signs of her characteristic willfulness and rebelliousness. She wants to do everything on her own and enjoys dictating her rules to the environment. This is indicated, among other things, by the strong pressure she applies to the page. Her scribbling style indicates high awareness of everything that is going on around her. She likes to look at geographical maps, she remembers every little detail, and despite her quick thinking weighs her moves with great care and accuracy.
Thanks to her extraordinary musical hearing she notices the tiniest fluctuations in speech tones, intuitively grasps hidden messages, and immediately gives them her own personal interpretations. Her scribbles clearly indicate the period when everything becomes shrunk (the brown scribble), when Natalie began her social withdrawal which caused her parents so much concern. During that period, she was apparently more attentive to external demands than to her own desires , and was quick to please others. Her drawings also show indications of extreme fears that caused sleeping disorders, constipation and changes in eating patterns. Socially, she experienced adjustment difficulties – her behavior at home changed and she tended to cling to her parents. Following parental guidance it was decided to move Natalie to a smaller kindergarten. The change for the better was evident in her scribbles – the line and scribbling style were once more flowing and open as they had been in the past, indicating stronger presence and confidence in Natalie's conduct.
Another example is a drawing by 30 month-old Tom. Tom insists on doing some things his own way, no matter what. If his wishes are not met, he becomes extremely agitated, so his parents say.
In such situations they feel a bit lost – every time they explain to me that he is not the only one who makes the decisions and they cannot follow his every whim. Nevertheless, this behavior recurs each time things do not go his way. How can you cope with such rebelliousness, they ask?
Tom's drawings are very impressive, suggesting high cognitive skills for his age. Nevertheless, the strong pressure he uses and the density of the various scribbles reflect the will fulness described by his parents. Everybody knows about the Terrible Twos, with many parents struggling with a tiny toddler willing to fight to the bitter end over things that may appear utterly trivial to Adults.
Tom fights for his position – he wants to be noticed and is willing to pay a dear price for it – such as an angry rebuke by his parents. He is prepared to pay this price because for him, being at the center of attention is the goal, and even if it is achieved in a negative way, it is still achieved.
The drawings indicate another issue which deserves further attention and analysis: Tom has a well-developed verbal skill, but some of the drawings appear to suggest that certain issues are sometimes "over-discussed" at home. My recommendation to his parents was, therefore, to check how they draw the line, and see whether they do not add excessive words and explanations to the original refusal.
Sometimes, explanations may confuse children like Tom precisely because of their relatively high cognitive ability. I am not suggesting, of course that the parents should dictate arbitrary rules to the child, ones that he cannot understand. Nevertheless they must be careful not to obscure their clear "No" with excessive explanations.
The best approach is to have the child take part in the decision -making process. It is better to do so when the proverbial iron is cold and not right at the moment when the child wants something he cannot have. That is, after things have cooled down, I recommend talking about what happened and arriving at a decision together. This way, there is cooperation in discussing the matter, combined with assertiveness in action. The parents should maintain their position until the rule is internalized by the child, and have some patience – usually, by the time the toddler is three, his stubbornness subsides...