An Assignment on Children's

Self-Report and Projective

Inventory (CSRPI)

Submitted by:
Rituparna Gupta
MPhil Clinical Psychology Part-1
Roll No-13

Submitted to:
Ms. Anwesa Purkait
Asst. Professor,
Department of Clinical Psychology
Post Graduate Institute of Behavioural & Medical Sciences, Raipur
 CONTENTS

1) INTRODUCTION
1.1) Overview of the Children's Self-Report and Projective Inventory (CSRPI)

2) COMPONENTS OF THE CSRPI

3) ADMINISTRATION

4) INTERPRETATION
 1) INTRODUCTION

Different types of personality assessment have been developed over the years to help clinicians
understand children better and to help predict future behaviour (Muro and Dinkmeyer, 1977).
The different ways to assess personality include finding out what the child says about himself,
what others say about him, and by observing the child's behaviour in a specific setting (Muro
and Dinkmeyer, 1977). Current assessments of personality are either objective (such as the
Junior Eysenck Personality Inventory and the California Test of Personality), or projective
(such as serial drawing, sentence completion, and the Children's Apperception Test). In both
cases, however, some type of personality assessment is useful for the clinician in order to meet
the needs of the school personnel, and to obtain some information on the child before
proceeding with a course of action (Keat,1974).

In fact, Frank (1939) had introduced the term projective method for describing a category of
tests for studying personality with unstructured stimuli. In projective tests, the individual is
given an unstructured situation to which he responds. By an unstructured situation, we mean a
situation whose meaning and interpretation vary from individual to individual. Such situations
have no right or wrong answers and are capable of evoking fantasy material from the test takers
(Lindzey 1961). The most important assumption of projective techniques is that while
responding to an unstructured situation, an individual projects his own feelings, needs,
emotions, motives, etc., (which are mostly latent and unconscious) without being aware of
doing so. Since the individual is not aware of these revelations, he doesn’t resort to any
defensive reactions. Thus, in a projective test, the individual has ample opportunity to project
his own personality attributes that are mostly latent and unconscious in the interpretation of an
unstructured situation. Such latent and concealed experiences are generally incapable of
exposure by the questionnaire type of test.

Projective methods are based on the projective hypothesis, derived from Freud’s personality
theory. The basic idea is that the way people respond to a vague or ambiguous situation is often
a projection of their underlying feelings and motives. A related assumption about projective
tests is that the test taker responds to the relatively unstructured test stimuli in ways that give
meaning to the stimuli, and that much of that meaning comes from within the person
responding.
Implications for Children

Projective techniques reflect the language of images, which is the speech of the unconscious,
and is a more direct mode of personal communication than words (Naumberg, 1973). Projective
techniques can reveal the distorted and repressed aspects of personality in childhood
(Naumberg, 1973). Projective techniques can also facilitate communication and bring about
greater understanding of what the child thinks and feels.

In the treatment of children, projective techniques become even more important than with
adults, because children are less able to express their thoughts and feelings in words and are
closer to the more primitive expression of themselves through the language of images and play
(Naumberg, 1973, p.52). Sigel (1960) states that the phenomenon of projection with children
is different than with adults. Children see reality in many ways, and much depends upon the
amount of experience they have been exposed to, the amount of knowledge that they have
acquired, and their verbal ability. Rabin (1960) further reminds us that the ego and character of
a child are not fully developed or stable. Consequently, the effects of projective techniques on
children are not understood very well.

As clinicians who work with children, we need to know what they think, how they feel, what
stresses them, and how they cope. Whether as part of a diagnostic evaluation, or to facilitate
counseling or therapy, it is essential to understand the inner world of the child for accurate
clinical diagnosis and appropriate intervention (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1990). While the
methods we traditionally use to assess a child’s social-emotional functioning provide us with
useful information, they also have significant limitations which restrict the richness and depth
of our view of the child’s inner world (Knoph, 1988, Ziffer, 1985).

Often with children a discussion about their problems is ineffective because they are unable to
clearly express their thoughts and feelings in words (Klepsch and Logie, 1982). Consequently,
the use of projective techniques is effective with children, because projective techniques can
illustrate quite successfully the inner world of the child.

One way of projecting the affect is through drawing. Drawing has long been used as a
projective technique (Levick, 1983) because art is a pictorial language and can quite effectively
express the inner conflicts and confusion that the child is experiencing (Klepsch and Logie,
1982).
 1.1) Overview of the Children's Self-Report and Projective Inventory (CSRPI)

The CSRPI is an idiographic, individually administered, multi-method inventory for assessing

the social-emotional functioning of children ages 5-12. It was developed to elicit information
about the child’s inner world of thoughts and feelings and to identify and flesh out specific
emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal concerns. The CSRPI consists of 8 components which
include both self-report and projective measures. The CSRPI was designed to meet a variety
of clinical needs. As part of a psychological evaluation, it can provide clinical information
useful for educational and treatment planning. As part of ongoing individual or child-centered
family therapy, it can stimulate and encourage the child’s production of clinically relevant
information. The CSRPI components can be used in their entirety to get a complete picture of
a child’s emotional functioning, or in segments to investigate specific concerns of the clinician.
Since it is designed to provide information about the child’s internal processes it is well suited
for use as a complement to informant rating scales of external behavior.

Features:

• 8 individual components encompassing non-verbal projective, verbal self- report, and

verbal projective methods offer the clinician a multi-method approach to clinical data
collection.
• Revised Sentence Completion items reflect self, school, family, and peer domains.
• New Projective Story Cards that are gender specific with family, self, school, and
peer related scenes.
• 2 drawing and 2 coloring tasks allow for non-verbal expression.
• 2 new self-report measures with optional non-verbal response formats.
• 20 clinical variables suggested for interpretation.
• Can be administered in under 1 1/2 hours.
• The CSRPI can be used by all mental health professionals working with children.
• Strengths and competencies are assessed as well as weaknesses and problems.
 2) COMPONENTS OF THE CSRPI

There are 8 separate components of the CSRPI which have been grouped into three different
response-type categories: drawing tasks, or non-verbal projective methods (4), self-report
measures (2), and verbal projective measures (2). In addition, the child's behavioral responses,
the particular manner in which he or she child reacts to the task, affective responses,
verbalizations, body movement, response style, and level of outward tension, may also be
recorded for each component. Clinical variables useful for response interpretation are presented
in a 20 item format. The components of the CSRPI and the clinical variables they may address
are listed below.

DRAWING TASKS:

There are four different drawing tasks in the CSRPI which provide a range of opportunities to
obtain information about the child's portrayal of self and others.

• Color How You Feel:

This task is the most non-verbal, and least demanding, task in the Inventory. A child just has to
know how to color, with minimal requirements for fine-motor skills. For this reason, it is
recommended that it be administered first. The child is first instructed that colors can represent
different feelings (yellow = happy, red = angry, blue = sad, green = worried). Following a test
for retention, the child is asked to color in a silhouette of a person representing him or herself
with the colors that portray how he or she feels most of the time. Our clinical experience has
been that children understand this task, do not become confused, and can produce remarkable
renderings (see Interpretation section).

Clinical Variables Assessed:

defensiveness view of self

self-esteem autonomy
self-control thought processes
range of emotions anxiety/worry/fear
sadness/depression view of environment
anger/hostility family relationships
 view of family view of school
peer relationships stress level
style of relating coping ability
general outlook
problem severity

• Color How Others Make You Feel:

Use the same color-feeling key, the child is asked to draw how significant others make him or
her feel. Parents, siblings, teachers, or extended family members may be included depending
upon the circumstances of each individual child. This is intended to be a purely non-verbal
representation of how the child feels about relevant people in his or her world.

Clinical Variables Assessed:

defensiveness view of self

self-esteem autonomy
self-control thought processes
range of emotions anxiety/worry/fear
sadness/depression view of environment
anger/hostility family relationships
view of family view of school
peer relationships stress level
style of relating coping ability
general outlook
problem severity

• Draw A Child in The Rain:

This measure in an adaptation of the popular draw a person class of tests. It was designed to be
viewed as one way of understanding a child's view of self, as well as the way he or she
perceives, and reacts to, environmental stress. Rain is hypothesized to represent environmental
stress. Qualities of rain portrayed, such as amount, intensity, and concentration may be used to
develop ideas about the child's stress level which may be evaluated in light of responses from
other measures. The manner in which the child deals with the rain is also hypothesized to be
significant and may reflect his or her coping style and defense mechanisms. Is shelter sought?
Does the child have an umbrella? how large or effective? Is rain gear incorporated? Lightning?
Our pre-testing has found this to be a particularly sensitive and valuable measure, and we have
found children's responses quite revealing (See examples pages 25-28).

Clinical Variables Assessed:

view of self defensiveness

autonomy self-esteem
thought processes self-control
anxiety/worry/fear range of emotions
view of environment sadness/depression
family relationships anger/hostility
view of school view of family
stress level peer relationships
coping ability style of relating
general outlook problem severity

• Kinetic Family Drawing:

This measure has been widely utilized as a tool for understanding how a child

perceives his or her family. Family structure, relationships, coalitions, hierarchy,

nurturing, and enmeshment-disengagement have all been important variables

derived from this measure. The task for the child is to draw a picture of his or her

family with everybody doing something.

Clinical Variables Assessed:

view of self defensiveness

autonomy self-esteem
 thought processes self-control
view of school range of emotions
stress level style of relating
coping ability general outlook
sadness/depression problem severity
anger/hostility anxiety/worry/fear
view of family view of environment
peer relationships family relationships

SELF-REPORT MEASURES:

Self-report measures allow the child to directly express his or her concerns as well as
minimizing the degree of inference making required by the clinician. The measures were
designed to provide information about a wide range of clinically significant topics, The child's
view of self, family, school, and peers, as well as perceived attentional, competence, learning,
self-control, and emotional functioning are represented in these measures. Two self-report
measures have been included in the CSRPI.

• Critical Items:

Critical items consist of a series of 40 statements which indicate significant clinical concerns.
The items are read to the child who responds to each item by indicating how closely each item
describes his or her thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. Any item to which a child responds "pretty
much" or "very much" will require elaboration and further exploration.

Clinical Variables Assessed:

defensiveness view of self

self-esteem autonomy
self-control thought processes
range of emotions anxiety/worry/fear
sadness/depression view of environment
anger/hostility family relationships
view of family view of school
 peer relationships stress level
style of relating coping ability
general outlook
problem severity

• Perceived Competence:

Perceived Competence is a self-evaluative measure which taps a child's view of his or her
effectiveness, abilities, strengths and weaknesses. Using response choices ranging from terrible
to great, a child rates his or her skill on each of 30 items read by the clinician.

Clinical Variables Assessed:

defensiveness view of self

self-esteem autonomy
self-control thought processes
range of emotions anxiety/worry/fear
sadness/depression view of environment
anger/hostility family relationships
view of family view of school
peer relationships stress level
style of relating coping ability
general outlook
problem severity

VERBAL PROJECTIVE TASKS:

Verbal projective tasks allow an opportunity for the child to portray a more elaborate picture
about his or her view of self and world than self-report measures. The CSRPI offers two verbal
projective tasks.
 • Sentence Completion:

The Sentence Completion task consists of 45 sentences with beginnings but no endings which
tap a child's thoughts, attitudes, outlook, perceptions, and feelings about a variety of clinically
relevant topics. The sentence stems are read to the child who verbally completes them.

Clinical Variables Assessed:

defensiveness view of self

self-esteem autonomy
self-control thought processes
range of emotions anxiety/worry/fear
sadness/depression view of environment
anger/hostility family relationships
view of family view of school
peer relationships stress level
style of relating coping ability
general outlook
problem severity

• Projective Story Cards:

Two gender specific sets of twelve projective story cards, depicting children in important and
clinically relevant situations are included. The sets of cards are identical except for the portrayal
of the main character as male or female. A unique feature of the cards is the blank face on the
main character. This enhances the child's opportunity to truly project his or her own thoughts
and feelings by decreasing the stimulus pull of the cards. The 12 cards were chosen from a pool
of 28 on the basis of clinical trials. The child is instructed to tell a short story about each card
describing the situation portrayed, the thoughts and feelings of the people, and what is going
to happen. The clinician either tape records or writes down the child's verbatim responses.
While each card can elicit a variety of clinical themes, the predominant theme for each card is
listed below.
 CARD: THEMES:

• looking in mirror • self-image

• holding "magic" lamp • wishes, wants, needs, fantasies
• watching tv • use of time, autonomy, initiative
• eavesdropping • parental or sibling relationships
• in bed • thoughts and feelings
• family picture • feelings about family
• family meal • family interactions
• with mother • relationship with mother
• with father • relationship with father
• in class • thoughts and feelings about school
• parent conference • view of teacher and self as a student
• watching children • peer relationships

Clinical Variables Assessed:

view of self defensiveness

autonomy self-esteem
thought processes self-control
sadness/depression range of emotions
anger/hostility anxiety/worry/fear
view of family view of environment
peer relationships family relationships
style of relating view of school
general outlook stress level
problem severity coping ability
 3) ADMINISTRATION

The CSRPI was developed to offer the clinician a comprehensive and systematic way to assess
a child's view of self, significant others in his or her world, concerns and coping mechanisms.
Due to the differences in both clinician preferences and individual child needs, a wide latitude
is given to the clinician in administration. Before administration, the examiner should be
thoroughly familiar with the various parts of the CSRPI. Instructions for the drawing tasks and
Projective Story Cards are presented in the manual, while the specific instructions for Critical
Items, Perceived Competence, and Sentence Completion tasks are printed in the response
booklet at the beginning of each task.

The eight components to the CSRPI can typically be administered in under 90 minutes. It is
highly recommended that as many of the components as possible are utilized when the CSRPI
is used for diagnostic purposes. When the CSRPI is used as a part of counseling or therapy, any
of the components may be used individually. All materials needed for administration are
provided in the kit. It may be advisable to have additional blank paper available for the child
to make additional drawings, if desired. The clinician will record all of the child's answers,
with the exception of the two drawing and 2 coloring tasks.

Each component has a section entitled Observations and Impressions (on Projective Story Card
Responses this section is called Notes) which allows for recording both behavioral observations
as well as tentative hypotheses derived from the child's responses. Behavioral observations
should be recorded in these spaces during administration of the CSRPI. Self-report and verbal
projective measures also have additional sections for highlighting and recording important
clinical findings.

After establishing rapport with the child, it is suggested that the drawing tasks be administered
first. These types of tasks are the least stressful for children, require less talking, and many
experience them as fun and interesting, which may facilitate responsiveness to more
challenging tasks. Subsequent components may be administered according to the needs and
reactions of the child, and the preferences of the examiner. Most commonly, the components
are administered in the order of presentation in the response booklet (Color How You Feel,
Color How Others Make You Feel, Draw a Child in the Rain, Kinetic Family Drawing, Critical
Items,

Perceived Competence, Sentence Completion, and Projective Story Cards). This order reflects
increasing task demands as the components move from non-verbal to increasingly verbal.
DRAWING TASKS

Materials Needed: Drawing Booklet, Back Cover of Response Booklet, Red, Blue, Yellow, and
Green Crayons, and Pencil

1. Draw How You Feel

DIRECTIONS: Place the Response booklet in front of the child along with the crayons.
Introduce the task by saying "Did you know that feelings can be shown as colors? Sometimes
people say that they are seeing red when they are angry (color the "angry" circle on the child's
booklet using the red crayon) so red can mean angry. If someone is feeling sad, he or she might
say "I'm feeling blue" (color the "sad" circle using the blue crayon) so blue can mean sad.
Yellow can be a happy color (color the "happy" circle using the yellow crayon) so yellow means
happy. Green can be feeling worried or scared (color the "worried" circle using the green
crayon). I'd like you to pretend that this person is you. I want you to color in the way you feel
most of the time. You can use as many of the colors as you like.

Pick the colors that show how you feel most of the time. Before you start let's review which
feelings the colors mean. Pre-test using the key to make sure that the child understands the
color-feeling relationship. Pre-testing may be conducted by pointing to a color and asking the
child to state the feeling it represents, or by asking the child to name the feeling that corresponds
to a particular color. Make sure the child can respond without hesitation or doubt before
proceeding with the task.

It is suggested that questioning begin with the most prominent color the child has selected. The
child's responses may be written in the observation and impression section below the drawing.
Examples of useful questions include:

"I notice that you drew yourself as mostly feeling _____What are some of the things that make
you_____?

"When do you feel_____?

"Who makes you feel_____?

"What do you do when you feel_____?

"What makes you stop feeling_____?

2. Draw How Others Make You Feel

Turn to the next page in the response booklet and say to the child “Now I want to find out how
other people make you feel. Let’s pretend that these figures represent the people in your family,
your teacher, and other important people in your life (enter any significant person in the child’s
life). Tell me the name of your (ask for individual family members, teacher, etc.) and I'll write
it here (enter on appropriate line under each figure). Just like before, I want you to color in each
figure to show how that person makes you feel most of the time.” Color each circle with the
appropriate color and again test the child to make sure the color-feeling relationship is
accurately remembered.

After coloring is completed, questions may be introduced by starting with the figure the child
has represented as engendering the most positive feelings. “I see that you drew your_. as
making you feel mostly happy. What does your do that makes you feel that way?” Other
feelings portrayed by this person should be inquired about before moving to the next most
positively portrayed figure. Additional questions that may be asked include:

“Do you ever tell that you feel 2”

“Does anyone else know that makes you feel? Who? What does he/she

do?”

“What would you like to know about how you feel?”

“What would do if he/she knew that you feel 2”

“What could do so that you would feel better?”

3. Draw a Child in the Rain

Turn to the next page in the response booklet. Say to the child: Now I’m going to ask you to
make some drawings. Some children are concerned that they are not very good artists, but I
just want you to do the best you can. For the first picture I want you to draw a picture of a child
in the rain. After the drawing has been completed the following questions may be asked.

“What's happening in this picture?”

“How is the child feeling?”

“What would the child like to have happen?”

“What do you think will happen next?”

“How would the child like to deal with the rain?”

4. Family Drawing

Turn to the next page in the drawing booklet and say to the child:

Now I would like you to draw me a picture of your family with everyone doing something.
After the drawing has been completed the following types of questions may be asked.

“Tell me about your drawing. Who is everybody and what are they doing?”

“How are they feeling?”

“What will happen next?”

“If you could change anything about what the family is doing what would it be?”

“How did you feel making this drawing?”

CRITICAL ITEMS

Materials Needed: Response Booklet, Response Choice Card, Pencil

Critical Items is a measure which involves the clinician reading 40 statements (e.g. “I don’t
like myself”) to the child and asking if the statement describes the child not at all, just a little,
pretty much, or, very much. There are two possible response styles for the clinician and child
to select. After rehearsing the response alternatives with the child, he or she may answer
verbally. Or, for children who seem to be more comfortable with non-verbal responses, he or
she may point to the appropriate response on the response choice card following each item.
Instructions for the child are printed in the response booklet. The clinician may want to elicit
additional information about the child’s responses following completion of the task. Examples
of questions include:

“You said you felt very much. How long have you felt that way?”
“Can you tell me when it started?”

“Have you told anyone that you feel this way? If yes, what happened?”

“Ts there anyone else you would like to know about this feeling? Who?”

“How would you like him /her to find out?”

PERCEIVED COMPETENCE

Materials Needed: Response Booklet, Response Choice Card, Pencil

The format for Perceived Competence is similar to that for Critical Items. Activities are read
to the child who responds by choosing an alternative which reflects how he or she judges his
or her performance on that item. The response choices (terrible, pretty bad, OK, pretty good,
great) may be made either verbally, or, by using the response choice card. Specific instructions
are printed in the response booklet. Items 7 and 16 (telling the truth) are identical and were
included to serve as a rough check for the reliability of the child’s responses.

SENTENCE COMPLETION

Materials Needed: Response Booklet, Pencil

Sentence Completion involves reading sentences that have beginnings, but no endings to the
child and asking him or her to complete the sentence in such a way as to reflect his or her
thoughts, feelings, or experiences. The child's responses are to be recorded verbatim in the
space provided in the response booklet. The specific instructions for the child are printed in the
response booklet.

PROJECTIVE STORY CARDS

Materials Needed: Projective Story Cards (12), Response Booklet, Pencil

Projective Story Cards are introduced to the child as follows: "I am going to show you some
pictures. I want you to look carefully at each one. You'll notice that some people don't have
faces. That is because I'd like you to make up your own story about each picture. In your story
I want you to tell me what's happening, what the people are thinking and feeling, and how it's
going to turn out." Check the card used at the top of the story response space in the booklet.
The child's responses should be recorded verbatim in the response space provided. Following
story completion, to expand and develop the child's responses clinician questioning is desirable
and encouraged. Questions can be conceptualized as falling into one of three major categories:
Process, Content, or Personalizing. These categories differ in the type of information they
obtain and the degree of personal involvement of the child.

• Process questions are phrased to clarify and fill in sequences in the child's story. (e.g.
"What led up to ...? ", "What will happen next ...? ", or, "What did (story character) do
when (another story character) did ......? ")
• Content questions address the internal experiences of story characters that are not fully
developed in the child's response. (e.g. "What was (story character) feeling when ...? ",
"Tell me more about what (story character) was thinking ... ", "You said (story
character) was mad when ... what was making him/her feel that way?")
• Personalizing questions ask the child about his or her own experiences. (e.g. "Did you
ever feel like (story character)?", "When?", "What happened?" "What do you do when
you are in a situation like this?", or, "If this (story outcome) were happening to you,
how would you feel?")

It is recommended that clinicians begin by asking process questions, followed by content

questions and then personalizing questions, as this sequence is likely to be least threatening for
the child.
 4) INTERPRETATION

Interpreting the CSRPI involves evaluating the child’s approach to, as well as the content of,
the components administered. For familiar components, such as kinetic family drawing,
sentence completion, and projective story cards, clinicians should use interpretation systems
they are familiar with. On the more unfamiliar components interpretation should be extremely
conservative and related to the clinical variables the components were developed to assess.

1. DESCRIBE THE CHILD’S APPROACH TO THE TASKS

The child’s reactions to the various components can be reviewed and the checklist on the cover
of the response booklet completed. In addition to the variables listed on the cover page of the
response booklet, the clinician will want to review and consult the notes made in each
Observations and Impressions section.

2. EVALUATE COMPONENTS

Beginning with drawing tasks, it is recommended that the clinician attempt first to develop
hypotheses from each component separately then refine them by comparisons between
components. Space is provided in the response booklet following each separate task for
observations and clinical impressions, notes, or hypotheses. For the familiar tasks (Kinetic
Family Drawings, Sentence Completion, and Projective Story Cards) clinicians should follow
the interpretative guidelines they are trained in. For the innovative tasks (Color How Your Feel,
Color How Others Make You Feel, Draw a Child in the Rain, Critical Items, and Perceived
Competence) observations that we have made in our experience of trying to understand
children’s responses to these tasks and clinical examples follow. These observations are based
on clinical trials and need to be viewed as tentative guidelines to follow quite cautiously and
conservatively. The examples were selected to portray children’s responses to a variety of
problem areas.

• COLOR HOW YOU FEEL:

Our clinical experience has been that children understand the requirements of this task and do
not become confused by what they are asked to do. We have found that most children also take
some time to think out and plan their response. If a child reacts quickly, omitting this response
planning phase, the validity of the response may be subject to question. It has also been our
experience that most children will typically use more than one color in their portrayal of their
emotions. In fact, even young children will attempt a fairly complex portrayal of how they feel.
We suspect that if a child only uses “happy” responses, the possibility of denial should be
considered. In attempting to conceptualize and understand the responses we have received on
this coloring task; we have tried to find an informal framework to guide us. After careful review,
we have found it clinically useful to think of the child’s coloring of self as having three separate
sections; the head, torso, and extremities, each possibly representing three different aspects of
the child’s emotional and behavioral responses and the way they may be expressed. We
hypothesize that the head may represent the child’s conscious feelings as well as what the child
shows to others. We often see happy heads on children who present themselves as smiling-and
positive, but who really have many more concealed negative feelings. In our experience,
children who draw angry, sad, or worried heads are capable of verbalizing that these are the
ways they feel. We have come to view the torso as possibly representing deeper seated feelings;
those closer to the heart of the matter. We have wondered about the meaning of coloring hands
and feet or legs. Our examples suggest that one hypothesis may be that extremities represent
the child’s way of approaching, or acting on, the environment.
 • COLOR HOW OTHERS MAKE YOU FEEL:

On this task we have found that children typically differentiate and discriminate well when
portraying how others make them feel. It is rare in our experience to find that a child colors the
significant people in his or her life in exactly the same fashion. A lack of differentiation would
make questionable the validity of the response. Figures colored all yellow (happy) raise the
issue of denial. We have interpreted this task more globally and have not found the same
relationship between body area, color, and problem that we observe in Color How You Feel.
Interpretation should be limited to the colors selected and the child’s responses to questioning.

• DRAW A CHILD IN THE RAIN:

This task has provided us with extraordinary clinical information. In interpreting ‘the child’s
response to this drawing, we suggest that particular attention is paid to the following two
variables: Rain variables such as heaviness, size, density, intensity, placement, with particular
concern placed on whether rain is heavier near the child, are hypothesized to be related to the
degree of stress the child experiences. Variables involved in the child’s reaction to the rain,
such as use and placement of umbrella, rain clothes, or seeking other shelter (relatively rare in
our experience) are hypothesized to be related to the child’s reaction to that stress. Our clinical
trials have led to the development of the following tentative hypotheses:

1. The heavier and denser the rain pictured, the greater the degree of stress the child
experiences.

2. Umbrellas and rain &ear may represent the child’s defenses. Large, unwieldy umbrellas may
indicate that defenses cannot be easily mobilized resulting in either the child being
overwhelmed by stress, or, prone to act out. Small, ineffective umbrellas may indicate
ineffective defenses, resulting in feelings of helplessness, or depression, as well as potential
behavior problems.

3. The size relationship between the child and umbrella may indicate the strength and
effectiveness of the child’s defenses. Proportionally large or small umbrellas may suggest that
the child’s defenses are not working, making him or her at risk for experiencing stress.
 • CRITICAL ITEMS AND PERCEIVED COMPETENCE:

The suggested approach to the interpretation of these two tasks is very direct. The child’s
responses are accepted at face value and extrapolation or inference making is kept to. a
minimum. On Critical Items exploring with the child any responses rated pretty much or very
much is essential, as these are considered to be serious and significant. For children who only
respond with not at all like me or just a little, we will inquire about their just a little response
for elaboration and clarification. Responses to Perceived Competence are felt to reflect the
child’s view of his own academic, social, and personal behaviors. Sometimes children will
respond in ways that do not correlate with others’ reports of their achievement or behavior. In
these instances, It may be helpful to see if the child’s responses cluster into categories reflecting
self, school, family, or peer themes.
 • SENTENCE COMPLETION:

On sentence completion types of tasks, it is not unusual to obtain many responses which do not
reveal much about the child. Those items which the clinician feels are important can be
categorized according to the following key:

Si—Significant: Items which reveal useful clinical information.

De—Denial: Items which reflect the child’s use of denial.

Cr—Creative: Items which indicate strengths and insights.

Ne—Negative: Items which reflect negative emotions.

Un—Unusual: Responses which are atypical in content or style.

The code suggested above can be used for noting meaningful responses by placing the
appropriate abbreviation in the margin next to the item number. More than one category may
be used for each response.

• PROJECTIVE STORY CARDS:

The Emotional—Developmental Checklist was developed to aid in understanding the child’s

responses and refining hypotheses. If desired, this form is reproduced.
 3. COMPLETE CLINICAL CHECKLIST
After refining your clinical hypotheses, complete the Clinical Checklist on the cover of the
CSRPI response booklet. These 20 clinical dimensions can assist in crystalizing your view of
the child’s emotional functioning.

4. COMPLETE RESPONSE BOOKLET

List, as specifically as possible, the problems, weaknesses, stressors, and concerns that are
affecting the child at this time. Complete the sections on the child’s coping style/defenses, and
strengths/resources. Finally, complete the Clinical Summary and Recommendation sections.
References:

Crandall. (1984). Projective Techniques with Children: Assessment Through Guided Imagery,
Drawing, And Post-Drawing Inquiry. The University Of British Columbia

Ziffer, R. Shapiro, L. (1992). Children’s Self Report and Projective Inventory. Psychological
Assessment Services