Summary of Emotional Indicators (E. M.

Koppitz)

Koppitz, 1963, held ten signs that can differentiate between children with and without emotional problems. Then added two more, which appear rarely, but often have considerable clinical implications. I. Confused Order. The figures of the Bender Test, without any logical sequence or order, are common in children aged 5-7 years. It is associated with a failure in planning capacity. In children older smarter and Confused Order may also reflect confusion Confusing order occurs more often in children with learning difficulties and test protocols of the children acting out. II. Wavy line in Figures 1 and 2. Two or more abrupt changes in the direction of the dotted line or circles. Appears to be associated with poor motor coordination and / or emotional instability. It was found in psychiatric patients and significantly discriminated between students with and without emotional problems. III. Dashes substituted for Circles in Figure 2. It was associated with impulsivity and lack of interest and emotional problems. IV. Progressive increase in size of Figures 1, 2 or 3. The dots or circles progressively increase in size until the last is at least three times larger Than the former. It is associated with low tolerance to frustration and acting-out and emotional problems. V. Large size. The area covered by a figure is twice the area of the figure of the stimulus card. It is associated with acting-out behavior. Difference between psychiatric patients and children without emotional problems VI. Small size. It is half or less than half the size of the figure on the card. It tends to be related to anxiety, withdrawn behavior, constraint and shyness in children. VII. Fine/Thin line. Pencil line is very thin. It is associated with shyness, embarrassment and withdrawal. Psychiatric patients with emotional problems. VIII. Careless overwork or heavily reinforced lines. A full figure or part of it is reworked by thick lines. When a figure is

erased and redrawn carefully or if a figure is corrected with deliberate lines that actually enhance the picture, then this category is not counted. It is associated with impulsivity, aggression and hostility, acting-out behavior in children. IX. Second attempt. The drawing is spontaneously abandoned before or after being completed and a new drawing is made of the figure. It is scored only when they have made two drawings of a figure in two different places of the paper. This IE has been associated with impulsiveness and anxiety. X. Expansion. Use of two or more sheets of paper. It is associated with impulsivity and acting-out behavior. Among school-age children It occurs almost exclusively in the protocols of children with mental retardation and emotionally disturbed. XI. Box around Design/Frames around the figures. Draw a frame around one or more of the figures after being copied. It is associated with an attempt to control their impulsivity. Own children who often have a poor self-control, need and want boundaries and external controls to be able to function at school and at home. XII. Spontaneous elaboration or additions to the figure. In one or more figures of the Bender Test of spontaneous changes are made. The changes turn them into objects or combine them into bizarre designs. These kinds of pictures are rare and occur almost exclusively in children overwhelmed by fear or anxiety or totally preoccupied with their own thoughts. These children often have a tenuous hold on reality and may confuse fact and fantasy.

Number of IE in the protocols of the Bender Test Emotional Indicators should be evaluated individually. They may appear singly or in combination. Allow to formulate hypotheses that need to be checked with other observations and psychological data. There was no significant relationship between school performance and IE. A single IE on a protocol of a child reflects an attitude or tendency given, but by itself does not indicate any serious emotional problem. It takes three or more IE before we can say with some confidence that a child has serious emotional problems. This does not mean that a child with six IE is twice more upset that a child who has only three IE. The clinic patients had significantly more IE in Test Protocols. There are significant differences in the number of IE of institutionalized children acting out and a group of normal subjects matched for age, sex and IQ score.