Rawley Silver: Case Study

The Draw a Story (DAS) assessment in an art therapy tool developed by Rawley Silver. Most often, the DAS is used to screen for depression in children and adolescents.. The assessment includes 14 stimulus drawing cards of people, animals, places and things. The provider assesses the client by looking at negative and positive themes present in the client’s drawing (Earwood, Fedorko, Holzman, Montanari, & Silver, 2004).
During the DAS, the client is asked to choose two or more cards. After selecting the cards, the client is then asked to imagine something happening between the selected images, create a story, and eventually draw out the story. Through this process, the client is able to change and elaborate on the chosen cards in order to create

However, it is important to note that a lower emotional content score and a higher self-image score does not guarantee that a child or adolescent struggles (or will struggle) with aggression, but instead simply indicates that there may be an increased likelihood that the child or adolescent struggles with aggressive behavior.
Use of the DAS in My Practice
Like any assessment, the DAS should be used alongside additional assessments, as well as the clinical interview. I can see myself utilizing this assessment to gain further information about the client’s view of self, others, and the world. However, I definitely would not rely solely on this assessment to determine whether or not a client has aggressive tendencies.
When determining to use this assessment, I would be incredibly cautious. I feel that a client’s DAS assessment results have the potential to vary greatly depending on the current mood and situation a client is in. When and how the assessment is administered could also significantly impact the results. The provider must be mindful of these factors, and weigh the findings against the knowledge obtained through other assessments and the clinical