ABSTRACT
If the Rorschach is given to normal children of younger and younger ages, a point will be reached at which they are so bewildered by the task and so unable to respond to its demands that the test appears meaningless. Conversely, if the test is given to children at later and later ages, another point will be reached at which they are so clearly able to understand the task, give a variety of responses to different cards, and participate in the inquiry process that Rorschach practitioners, regardless of their particular system, will be comfortable scoring and interpreting protocols in what they take to be standard ways. Because the Rorschach is a complex mental exercise, the distance between these two points is not traversed quickly or in a single step. To the contrary, mastery of the test occurs over a considerable period of time – the preschool years and beyond – and is reflected in a series of increasingly sophisticated, qualitatively different patterns of test performance. Thus, the problem of describing the manner in which children come to be able to take the Rorschach may be seen as one of delineating these patterns or stages.
