What was strange about the picture of her family, my Dd drew for the Dr

In Our case child had experienced a sudden infection that was quick severe and then even once infection cleared after a few days they had hugh deterioration in fine motor control, balance,visual disturbances, regression in some tasks that they could previously do and emergence of one particular compulsive act. What helped was a combination of things( I think) new antibiotic , gut health - probiotics, good diet etc alongside reducing demands( stopped a lot of extra activities) and started play therapy to support the anxiety and behaviours … settled down A lot 2/3 months once the infection was definitely cleared and then continued with the play therapy and reduced activity until child was ready and happy to return. The compulsive act phased reduced and phased out after 3/4 months .Really hope things improve for you quickly!

The previous poster included a link to save people having to Google :-)

I wouldn't make this kind of interpretation. It's a perfectly psychological normal pic by a 6 year old.

If there is a query over PANS/PANDAS, please seek help from a functional practitioner. Throwing antibiotics at something like this 'to see if it works' may very well end up compounding the issue further.

Sounds like an attempt at the Kinetic Family Drawing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_family_drawing

Child psychologist here. Not an expert in this area but I believe one of the common features of pans/pandas is a rapid onset deterioration in fine motor skills. The picture you shared is very mildly delayed for a 6 year old conceptually but the motor control is adequate. Maybe he wants to compare with previous work?

A divided camp of being in the middle. She feels part of the family or she likes to split her family up.
If a child draws on the outside of the adults they dont feel they are part of the family.

> What can this mean?

Presumably it means they want a second opinion and the drawing now forms part of your child's medical notes so needs to be stored. Don't overthink it for now, if you can!

Edit: didn't see the other replies before I posted, but hope it all goes well

The most likely scenario by far is that part of the assessment process involves drawing a picture, but that the doctor you saw today doesn't feel confident that they have the ability to assess the drawing accurately as part of your child's assessment, and need someone more experienced in that area to help ie to say yes this is age appropriate.

It could also be that the picture she drew and how she’s positioned people gives him a sense of the closeness of the relationships in the family, e.g. that she’s drawn you first and positioned herself in the middle could suggest for instance that she feels safe and supported by her parents… just a guess!

I wouldn't have thought the position was surprising, I've seen hundreds (maybe thousands) of family drawings from KS1 children over the years, a huge proportion have the same layout! I suspect as has been said by others there were other elements they were looking at and recording ie the actual mark making.

@BrownBirdWelcomesWhiteWave but then you've posted something I don't think is helpful about the condition.

Not included what causes it or how it often presents (ticks, ND attributed behaviours that have come on suddenly).

@Notthegoldenhourthebluehour are you seeing the psychologist again soon? Maybe they could talk it through with you and explain why they felt certain things about the picture to put your mind at rest? Could you ask to have a quick chat with them about it. I often get follow up emails / questions that I talk through with parents to make sure they understand the assessment and results.

But if it's answered here, instead of sparky comments, it mean other people don't have to Google.

How hard would it have been to post those instead?

What are PANS and PANDAS?
Introduction
PANS and PANDAS are conditions that affect the brain. People with PANS or PANDAS experience a variety of symptoms ranging from mental health symptoms to changes in behaviour and difficulties with movement.

I hope you are ok OP! I wouldn’t read into this too much as wasn’t anything shocking that your child drew .However in general Asking a child to draw a picture can be used as an assessment tool in lots of different ways - so for example to check coordination, grip of hand, checking sensory issues- proprioception, how much weight child is applying to page and also the complexity and speed they are drawing. Also what the child draws can be used to assess ( to some degree) the feelings/ emotions of the child however in your case your child seemed to draw a fairly typical drawing so I wouldn’t worry about that .
I hope you get some help and support for yourself and child and see some improvements. Have experienced with pandas after an infection that came on quickly, was very frightening for everyone and distressing for child however improved over time. Found that initially the GP hadn’t a clue what it was and only I was aware myself led to them taking it seriously .

Hi OP. I’m a child psychologist. I don’t think much could be taken from one piece of information such as a picture. They may have just been checking you were happy to share the info from the assessment, rather than that picture particularly.