I conceptualize this sort of thing using the ego state model rather than a sole inner child.

Here's a blurb on ego states:
http://www.clinicalsocialwork.com/overview.html
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(Paul) Federn believed that the personality was not simply a collections of perceptions, cognitions, and affects, but that these organized into clusters or patterns, which he called ego states. An ego state may be defined as an organized system of behavior and experience whose elements are bound together by some common principle.

When one of these states is invested with ego energy, it becomes “the self” in the here and now. We say it is “executive,” and it experiences the other states (if it is aware of them at all) as “he,” “she,” or “it,” because they are then currently invested with object energy.

Ego states may be large and include all the various behaviors and experiences activated in one’s occupation. They may be small, like the behaviors and feelings elicited in school at the age of 6. They may represent current modes of behavior and experiences or, as with hypnotic regression, include many memories, postures, feelings, etc. that were apparently learned at an earlier age. They may be organized into different dimensions. For example, an ego state may be built around the age of 10. Another one may represent patterns of behavior toward father and authority figures and thus overlap on experiences with father at the age of 10. Behaviors to accomplish a similar goal may be uniquely different from one ego state to another, especially in true multiple personalities.”

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I have a lot of different ego states. We have worked with one in therapy that is about 4 years old and experienced abuse. This ego state is organized around both age and the abuse. I recovered memories of this abuse early in therapy and with it, I found this ego state. But I certainly had other memories of this age that were not abuse related and that I didn't "forget" for 30 years. So I could have more than one 4 year old ego state, one organized around abuse, one organized around something else, etc. Interestingly, the ego state we worked with also had some other recovered memories of that era that had nothing to do with abuse but that I had repressed. They somehow just got bundled into that ego state. I also have a lot of other ego states. Some are more integrated into me, more "shadowy." Others are more differentiated from me and seem more like "other" than "self", like the 4 year old. However, she is more integrated now than when I first discovered her, due to our efforts in therapy. My mature ego state learned how to go back and nurture her and rescue her.

I never used the writing with non-dominant hand technique, although my therapist told me about it. In therapy, my therapist would lead me into conversation with her. He would have me bring her into the room (if she was willing) and then I would ask her questions (silently) and she would answer me (silently), then I would report back her answer to T. And he would ask something else, and I would then ask her, etc. So we would hold conversations like this. Pretty wild! For a time, this ego state was really in the forefront for me. Sometimes when I was going about my everyday business, I would see her out of the corner of my eye, or hiding just around a corner or behind something, and I would whip around, and try to look at her head on, but she always disappeared. She was a companion for a while. She's not so overt now, is more integrated, and is part of me. She was lost for so long. I love having found her.

I'm not sure that answers your questions, gerber, but that is my experience.

I think working with an inner child or younger ego states is different for everyone and probably there are different ways to go about this in therapy. What approach does your therapist use?