Play Therapy Informed Skateboarding

Abstract

ABSTRACT In an attempt to discover a more suitable and culturally relevant form of therapy for children and adolescents, the principal investigator of this study proposed a framework for therapy by adapting child-centered play therapy and key concepts of Terry Kottman’s approach to Adlerian play therapy within a skateboarding context. Five children whom the principal investigator had not previously known participated in this six-week-long case study. Each child attended five one-hour-long play therapy-informed skateboarding sessions and an exit interview. Before the therapeutically informed skateboarding sessions, parents were provided with questionnaires adapted from Terry Kottman’s questionnaires for Adlerian play therapy, inquiring about each child’s sense of connection, capability, courage, and feelings that they count. Parents received a similar follow-up questionnaire after their child attended five therapeutically informed skateboarding sessions. On the final questionnaires, parents reported an increase in their child’s confidence, capability within relationships, connection, and task initiation.