Psychiatric assessment of children with poor verbal capacities using a sandplay technique

Galit Ben-Amitay*, Rivka Lahav, Paz Toren

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Some children are reluctant to cooperate during psychiatric assessment. Various factors can hamper a child's cooperation, among them poor verbal skills, negativism, or anxiety. A non-verbal technique can be used both for building rapport and for diagnostic purposes. The technique makes use of a shallow rectangular sand tray, half-filled with sand, and a variety of miniature figures, which the child uses "to build a picture or create a world" in ~20 minutes. The miniatures selected by the child, the way the child arranges them in the tray, the child's use of space, and the themes represented in the scene all serve as reflective measures. The article describes five case studies of children whose ability to cooperate in the psychiatric assessment is limited. The sandplay technique is a non-verbal method that offers symbolic language for expression within a defined space and thus serves as a useful means of facilitating the interview process.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)38-44
Number of pages7
JournalPrimary Psychiatry
Volume16
Issue number12
StatePublished - Dec 2009

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