Do you think children's drawings can give one an insight into things that might be happening in their lives that you might not know about otherwise?

I don’t remember where I learned about this, maybe at teacher’s school, but we were taught how to examine pictures that children draw to get an idea of how things are in their life. For example, if a child draws a picture of him-or-herself with no mouth or no eyes, that’s a concern that something is going on that they aren’t allowed to talk about, or that they see things they don’t want to see or aren’t supposed to see.

I recently saw a picture a kid drew that was very dark and angry looking, and the mouth was sewn shut. It looked discombobulated, like a van Gogh. He had one eye on his face and the other eye was in his navel area. He had used his medium of choice, and that was a pencil. Many confused lines, but overall kind of interesting.

Also, if you ask a child to draw a picture of his or her family, where the child puts him or herself in relation to other family members is telling too. If a child puts him or herself out side of the group, that’s a little bit concerning.

What other things could be of concern?