Two experiments investigated the effects of the significance given to a topic on the size it was drawn by children aged between 4 and 7 years. In Expt 1, children were asked to copy the outline of a man. Immediately afterwards, all the children were asked to make a second drawing of the outline, either imagining that the outline was of a nice person or a nasty person, or so that the second drawing was the same as their first. Compared with the control condition, drawings of the nasty man were made reliably smaller, and drawings of the nice man were made non‐reliably larger. In Expt 2, children were asked to make drawings of an apple which was then characterized as ‘nice’ or ‘nasty’ for different groups of children. The nice characterization reliably increased the size of apple drawings; however, nasty apples, unlike nasty men, were not drawn significantly smaller than in the control condition. We discuss the implications of these results for the hypothesis that the significance of a topic is reflected in the size of the drawings children make of that topic.

Our aim was to investigate whether or not children's drawings of a potentially threatening topic (a Hallowe'en witch) were made significantly smaller than drawings of a non-threatening topic (a woman). The first study confirmed an earlier claim by Craddick (1963) that drawings of a witch were made significantly smaller on the day before Hallowe'en compared to drawings made one week before or after, but we found that drawings of a non-threatening topic (a woman) changed in size in exactly the same way. Furthermore, we found no evidence that children became significantly more frightened of witches as Hallowe'en approached. In the second study, questionnaire responses were used to allocate children into two groups, those who were scared of witches and those who were not. Scared children drew both smaller witches and larger women than did non-scared children, with the result that relative heights of witches compared to women differed significantly between the two groups. However, only the difference in the height of the drawings of a woman was statistically significant. The implications of these results for the clinical assessment of children through their drawings are discussed.

The study demonstrated a marked inconsistency between recall and recognition of signs of childhood cancer, with signs of CNS malignancies being least recognised. However, the majority of students could recognise enough early warning signs to meet the university pass standard. Although this study demonstrated acceptable recognition of early warning signs of childhood cancer at one university, we suggest that long-term recall in medical practitioners is poor, as reflected in the low age-standardised ratios of childhood cancer in SA. We recommend increased ongoing exposure to paediatric oncology in medical school and improved awareness programmes to increase early referrals.

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Aim The aim of this case study was to investigate the effectiveness of verbal mediation training in children with non-verbal learning difficulties. Methods Two A-B-A single case experimental design studies were conducted. In the intervention phase each child was asked to complete non-verbal construction tasks using verbal mediation. Children also completed a digit span task, as a control measure of overall development. During the training and follow-up phases they completed a jigsaw, as a measure of generalization of training to a related task. Findings: The results suggested that the children improved in their ability to complete non-verbal construction tasks, unrelated to changes in their overall developmental level. Conclusions Findings suggest that verbal mediation training was beneficial for two children with non-verbal learning difficulties but further research, in the form of randomized controlled trials is needed.