JMCC Photo Gallery
A child's progression
It can be difficult to
understand how a child might make use of sand and art to experience relief and
to change behaviors. These are drawings of a 7-year-old boy, who I will call
John, who I saw for three months. He worked in the sandtray room and drew with
pens and paints every week. His parents were going through a divorce whose
primary conflicts were about him. This boy worked through themes of being
overwhelmed, and gained courage and boundaries, which helped him to experience
some new empowerment.
John’s first expressions
were about ships at sea, on fire. He commented, "No one even notices it’s on
fire. They’re all just sitting around." His own sense of being ‘noticed’ by his
parents was not strong enough. Of this first picture, John said, "It’s a ship.
The smoke is in front of the flag. The airplane that dropped the bombs is way
out here (here points above the paper). I don’t think the sun will like that!
There’s not just a little fire in here. I think the man should be jumping off
the ship now. And the sun is sure unhappy!" I ask: "What will the sun say?"
"Boy! That smoke is so awful! Stop smoking!" John went on to make a volcano.
Volcanoes are often recognized as anger that has been pressurized, ready to
blow. This child had taken any anger and stored it in his body. He suffered from
headaches and stomachaches.
(CLICK ON SMALL PHOTO TO ENLARGE)
Midway through his work, John drew this
picture. He is at a turning point in trying to work out how to get his people to
survive the fires he creates. If he expresses his own anger and hurt, will his
parents just "burn up"? He makes a house. One person is in the elevator, calling
"help". John states, "He won’t make it. He’ll be roasted." A second fellow jumps
from the top. "He’ll survive. See? There’s a trampoline down here to catch
him.—No. The trampoline is burning, too." His rage is no longer as hopeless. His
greatest focus in this picture is the fire engine, an emergency vehicle that
carries water to decrease the heat.
The next week, John dumped
much water into the wet tray, and created a war. He tells me, "If you had to
fight or surrender, I’d rather fight, wouldn’t you?" He was making new options
for himself. Perhaps he would 'survive' talking about his feelings and trusting
his outer world.
John’s expressive work had
opened up that ‘volcano’ he carried, so that in the next two sessions he was
able to talk more directly about his feelings. "I don’t mind being alone", he
says. I don’t say anything. He makes a quick face at me and says, "Well what?" I
say, "I’m just thinking about alone. Sometimes it feels good to me. Sometimes it
doesn’t. I like to able to choose." He agrees. He continues, "I’m just too
sensitive." I say, "Says who?" "No one--- My mom says I’m too sensitive." I ask,
"What do you think? Sensitive means lots of things." He becomes quite agitated:
"I’m not sure I’m just too sensitive. Let’s think of another word. It’s a
big word." So John and I list words that might mean sensitive, or might mean
what he defines as himself. The words were caring, thinking, feels a lot of
feelings, artistic.
In the last picture, made
close to his last session, this 7-year-old drew a road. On the left is a very
contained campfire, with rocks in a circle. I asked who was camping. "I don’t
know: I’ve never been camping." The contained fire is not dangerous, and in
fact can be useful. On the right is a person with a large hose. This person is
putting out a fire that could get out of control. John had built a way to
express himself, using both sandtrays and art materials. He had, in essence,
freed up a number of emotions, and had built a container for the heat that
earlier had been far too much, too hot, and manifesting itself in headaches and
stomachaches. His physical symptoms were gone.
In the course of three
months, John had created 16 sandtrays and more than 30 pictures.
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