The Use of the Rorschach with Young Children: Special Considerations in Administration, Scoring, and Interpretation and in the Measurement of Cognitive Functioning

A discussion of the Rorschach\u27s validity as a diagnostic tool seems most manageable when validity is addressed not in terms of global personality descriptions, but rather in terms of specific subquestions. This paper investigates the Rorschach\u27s usefulness as an indicator of cognitive functioning in preadolescent children. Within a developmental framework and focusing primarily upon the cognitive theories of Jean Piaget, predictable stages of the child\u27s intellective growth are described with an emphasis on Rorschach response patterns which seem to best chronicle that growth. Empirical data from both clinical and educational spheres are offered as supportive evidence for the Rorschach as a cognitive correlate. An additional area of focus involves special administrative, scoring, and interpretive considerations of the Rorschach with young children. Though less documented by empirical data, these three areas have been extensively addressed by clinicians via theoretical assumptions and clinical observation. Halpern\u27s theoretical assumptions regarding the development of the child\u27s cognitive skills as well as the traditional scoring systems of Klopfer and Beck will be review. Ledwith\u27s longitudinal study of children\u27s Rorschach responses provides substantial normative data regarding specific scoring categories, and the relationship of certain response patterns to age. In a composite sense, then, the Rorschach emerges as an effective correlate of cognitive functioning in children, and may in fact tap certain cognitive processes in limited populations even more adequately than traditional standardized measures of I.Q