The Squiggle Technique

The Squiggle Technique is exactly what it sounds like (I'll definitely do further research). It’s an intriguing way to understand a child’s inner world by literally drawing squiggles.

Dr. Harrison demonstrated this technique with 3 boys, who we will call ‘Joe,’ ‘George,’ and ‘Alex.’

Joe was up first. Because he was first, it was obvious that he was tense and hesitant because he had no idea what he was getting into. Dr. Harrison started by drawing a random squiggle on the piece of white paper. Joe was then instructed to draw whatever squiggle he wanted to. They proceeded to take turns and alternated with their squiggles until Dr. Harrison deemed it was appropriate to stop.

After stopping, Dr. Harrison asked Joe to tell her what he sees in the image that they had both created. The boy hesitated because he had no idea what the ‘right’ answer was. Rashmi translated and informed the boy that there is no right or wrong answer – ‘it’s just a game.’ When it became evident that Joe was too nervous to start, Dr. Harrison created her own story. She stated that she sees a chicken in the drawing and notices that all of its body parts are dislocated and placed in different parts of the picture. Joe then added on to that description, but could not make his own description.

Dr. Harrison repeated this activity with Joe. This time, Joe started the squiggles. At the end, Joe was encouraged to share a story of what he sees is happening in the image. This time, he did have a story to tell. Joe stated that he saw a heart in the image and when asked ‘what is the heart saying or doing?’ Joe replied with a moral value along the lines of ‘the heart will take you to wherever you need to go.’

Dr. Harrison performed the same exercise twice with both George and Alex. George and Alex had already seen what the activity entailed. Thus, they appeared to be a lot more confident and comfortable sitting in front of Dr. Harrison.

George was evidently a lot more confident. He had the chance to draw first, so instead of drawing squiggles, George intelligently drew a cup with a straw inside. Insane artist! After a few rounds, George was also asked to tell a story of the image. He explained that he saw a person flying a kite. In the second image, George described that he saw a tree with a butterfly and a pond with a swan inside.

Lastly, Alex. Alex had a bright smile across his face the whole time throughout the entirety of this activity. He described his first image as a bowl holding ice cream with a side of fruits. He noted that the second image showed mountains with clouds and rain. 

At the end of the session, all 3 boys were thanked and asked to leave the room so that Dr. Harrison and Rashmi could debrief with the teachers and the counselor on-site. From the drawings itself, Dr. Harrison was able to pinpoint the type of kid each boy was and predicted what their inner world felt like.

She noted that Joe might feel alone and isolated majority of the time. She deduced this by analyzing the fact that every time she drew a squiggle, Joe would draw a squiggle somewhere else on the paper. He refused to connect his squiggles with Dr. Harrison’s. Then, with his story of the ‘heart taking you wherever you need to go,’ Dr. Harrison inferred that Joe was wearing a mask to please the people around him. He said what he thought was the right answer, instead of describing what he actually feels – which is alone, isolated, and disconnected —> like the chicken with its parts at different locations on the page. The teachers were astonished and agreed with Dr. Harrison's assessment. 

For George, Dr. Harrison immediately deduced that he is controlling. She noted that that is probably how he learned to cope with his trauma and abuse – to control and appear to be a ‘macho man.’ Thus, he took control of the situation right away by drawing a straight up image of a cup with a straw instead of a squiggle to show Dr. Harrison that he is the leader and the controller in this situation. Every time Dr. Harrison attempted to interrupt his image, George would draw something that would complete Dr. Harrison’s squiggle to show that he is still controlling the narrative. When Dr. Harrison drew an angry face on the person George drew, George proceeded to draw a kite flying from the person’s hand. When Dr. Harrison drew a lighting bolt from the clouds, George drew birds. George’s story only referred to the positive parts of the drawing (i.e. the person, kite, sun). He didn’t mention the angry face or the lightening bolt because those parts of the image show signs of anger - and accepting the feeling of anger is not ‘macho.’

Finally, Alex's picture analysis was not as complex, yet equally intriguing as the other two boys. Alex, similar to Joe, drew things away from Dr. Harrison’s squiggles. He didn’t necessarily connect Dr. Harrison’s squiggles. And when asked to describe what he saw, he didn’t mention seeing anything alive or breathing. He only described seeing a bowl, ice cream, rain, etc. This showed that he too feels isolated at times and may have some sort of negative outlook on life.

The fact that Dr. Harrison had just met these 3 boys and was able to analyze what they were feeling with just a few squiggles is staggering to me. The teachers and counselor were also shocked and nodded in agreement as Dr. Harrison shared her accurate assessment of the boys.

There were 2 main things that stuck out to me the most during the workshop:

1. When one of the teachers asked how they can help reduce a child’s aggression and irritation, Dr. Harrison replied that “all behavior is communication.” For example, a bully is often bullying due to their own internal insecurities.
2. Both Rashmi and Dr. Harrison emphasized the hand model of the brain. Rashmi explained the hand model (shown below) in such an eloquent way. She described that when children and/or the teachers become angry/frustrated, they “flip their lid.” In other words, their thinking brain (i.e. the 4 fingers at the top representing the prefrontal cortex) goes offline and the child/teacher’s ability to think is impaired. Thus, Rashmi and Dr. Harrison stated that the best solution is a 3 step process: (1) take a deep breath, (2) count to 10, (3) walk away. Dr. Harrison mentioned that this process is known as ‘folk wisdom’ in the states. Following this method will usually help close the lid and ensure that all four components of the brain are working together.