Assessment • 121Copying and Completion
Used in art education for centuries, copying has also been helpful in the psychological assess-
ment of organic impairment, as in the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test (Bender, 1952).
Completion procedures are another popular approach. In the Kinget Drawing Completion
Test, for example, each of the eight sections on the test blank contains a dot or a line, which
the subject is invited to develop into a picture (Kinget, 1952). This kind of standardized
ambiguous stimulus is similar to the chosen or created stimuli suggested by art therapists as
“starters,” and is used in treatment as well as in assessment.
The Scribble Drawing
At about the same time, a playful British analyst named Winnicott (Figure 6.3) and an
inspired American art teacher named Cane independently came up with the notion of using
a scribble as a visual starter; that is, developing a picture from a self-made scribble. For
Winnicott, it provided a rapid and nonthreatening way to get to know a child he was assess-
ing; and because his interest was in communication rather than composition, a pencil and
a small piece of paper suited his Squiggle Game (Winnicott, 1964–68; 1971b). Cane, on the
other hand, wanted to stimulate freedom and spontaneity in art expression, so her scribble
technique included preparatory breathing and movement exercises (Figure 6.4), and was
done on large drawing paper with colored pastels (Cane, 1951). On the DVD you will see
Elinor Ulman demonstrating the technique as part of an assessment (DVD 6.3).
Taught by Cane’s sister Margaret Naumburg (1966), the scribble remains extremely
popular among art therapists. It was incorporated into the first formally designed art
therapy assessment batteries for both individuals (Ulman & Dachinger, 1975) and families
(Kwiatkowska, 1978). Since young children have difficulty with the task, Ron Hays proposed
a Dot-to-Dot drawing as an alternative for them (AATA Conference Proceedings, 1979).
Many other “visual starter” approaches are used in treatment as well as diagnosis, some of
which are noted in the following chapter.
Figure 6.2 Doris Arrington, Visual Preference Test (VPT).