Reply - seek assessment or consultation

This sounds like imagery I often see in adolescent (particularly male) art. It is not necessarily pathological, but should put up a "red flag".

If the child is under ten, do not pass go, go directly to your school psychologist and get him/her assessed, over that age, it would probably be a good idea too. If there is an art therapist available to you for referrals, I would suggest referring this student to him/her, as your student is already comfortable expressing him/her feelings in the art and would benefit from art therapy perhaps more than verbal therapy.

In your role as a teacher, I suggest not discouraging this art, and not evaluating it for grades based on its content as this could send a message that your students feelings must be censored. That is, ask "does the picture say what you wanted it to say?" or "there's a lot happening in this picture" rather than "That's a nice picture, or isn't that a bit gory?"

I hope you have some professional psychology/social work/art therapy resources available at your school to draw apon. If not, by providing a positive environment within your classroom for this student, you are helping to ease whatever difficulties he/she may be having.

Please note (Disclaimer): as I do not know the specific situation in this example and have not interviewed the student in question, this response is at best a very general recommendation and an assessment by a mental health professional in situ is much better. This is not to be interpreted as a professional evaluation.

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