Creating a World in the Sand: A Pilot Study of Normative Data for Employing the Sand Tray as a Diagnostic Tool With Children

This descriptive study was designed to evaluate the way in which children, normal children ages 9-10 approach and carry out the task of creating a ‘World’ in the sand tray. A clinical group comprised of abused and neglected children was evaluated to determine how they approached the task. Both groups were videotaped and the taped sessions were viewed and evaluated by trained raters. The final scenes were evaluated using a scoring protocol and the similarities and differences between the two groups were studied. The findings showed that non-clinical children ages 9-10 do demonstrate similar behaviors in approaching and carrying out the task of creating a World in the sand. Findings also indicated that 9 and 10 year olds create scenes that have similar characteristics that are likely related to their developmental stage. In comparing the process and completed scene of non-clinical children to those of clinical children, differences were seen implicating the use of sand tray as a diagnostic tool to be promising. Differences were also seen between boys and girls suggesting that gender differences do exist.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Administration and Psychological Services

Grantor

Southwest Texas State University

Year dc:date.issued

1996

Author dc:creator

• Petruk, Leslie H.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Homeyer, Linda E.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Scholwinski, Edward J.
• Raffeld, Paul C.

• sandplay
• play assessment
• symbolic play
• symbolism
• children

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10877/21050

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.library.txst.edu:10877/21050