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Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT)

Topic Areas
Scientific Rating
Child Welfare Relevance
Disruptive Behavior Treatment (Child & Adolescent)
3  — Promising Research Evidence
Medium

About This Program

Target Population: Children ages 3-10 who experience disruptive behaviors, depression, anxiety, trauma symptoms, aggression, and co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems impeding holistic development

For children/adolescents ages: 3 – 10

Program Overview

Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT) is a therapeutic approach designed for children ages 3-10, drawing from the principles of Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology. This approach helps children explore their emotions, beliefs, and social dynamics through play, a natural medium for self-expression. The therapy unfolds in four phases: establishing a trusting relationship, understanding the child’s lifestyle, gaining insight into their perceptions of self and others, and guiding them toward positive goals and constructive behaviors. Through these phases, AdPT is designed to support children in developing self-esteem, social interest, and problem-solving abilities. By providing a supportive and safe environment, the approach encourages children to navigate and make sense of their feelings, fostering personal growth, and helping them develop skills to interact in socially appropriate ways. The therapy aims to empower children with a sense of belonging and significance as they learn to understand and manage their relationships and emotions more effectively.

Program Goals

The goals of Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT) are:

  • Change mistaken beliefs about self, others, and the world
  • Shift toward more positive goals of behavior
  • Replace destructive patterns for belonging and feeling significant with constructive patterns
  • Adopt positive methods for coping with inferiority feelings
  • Recognize and capitalize on their own assets
  • Develop self-enhancing choices toward increasingly positive attitudes, feelings, and behaviors

Logic Model

The program representative did not provide information about a Logic Model for Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT).

Essential Components

The essential components of Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT) include:

  • Foundational principles:
    • Adlerian theory:
      • Rooted in Individual Psychology
      • Views human beings as:
        • Socially embedded
        • Goal-directed
        • Subjective
        • Creative
      • Emphasizes the importance of social connection, or "social interest"
      • Highlights the need for belonging that begins in family and extends to various social contexts
      • Play therapists focus on understanding the underlying goals of a child's behavior, especially regarding misbehavior, which can stem from desires for:
        • Attention
        • Power
        • Revenge
        • Proving inadequacy
    • Reality perceived subjectively:
      • Individuals interpret experiences through personal lenses shaped by their unique "lifestyle"
      • Recognizes everyone’s:
        • Creativity
        • Uniqueness
        • Capability of self-determination
      • Adlerian counselors are trained to celebrate this individuality as an expression of an inherent creativity within each person, fostering a holistic understanding of human nature.
  • Therapeutic Process:
    • Counselors who use AdPT to work with children use the four-phase framework of Individual Psychology to guide the process of the therapy with the child and ideally a parallel process of consultation with the significant adult(s) in the child’s life.
    • Phases of the Adlerian Play Therapy Process:
      • In Phase I: Building an Egalitarian Relationship with the Child, therapist:
        • Engages in metacommunication
        • Responds nonverbally in a responsive manner to the child (i.e., matches the child’s progress)
        • Conducts at least 6 of the 13 identified skills:
          • Meeting the Child
          • Demystifying the process (logistics, parent/teacher consultations, confidentiality, empowering child
          • Tracking
          • Restating content
          • Reflecting feelings
          • Encouragement
          • Asking questions
          • Giving explanation and answering questions
          • Actively interacting with the child
          • Returning responsibility to the child
          • Using the child’s metaphor
          • Cleaning the room together
          • Setting limits
        • Typical time spent in this phase: 1-4 sessions
        • The target mechanisms for progression out of this phase include:
          • Engage the counselor verbally and/or nonverbally
          • Initiate collaborative interactions with the counselor
          • Spends more than half of session involved in periods/blocks of nonrestricted play (i.e., “too tight,” focus on one item/toy without freedom to explore)
      • In Phase II: Exploring the Child's Lifestyle, therapist:
        • Engages in reflective skills from Phase I
        • Responds nonverbally in a responsive manner to the child (i.e., matches the child’s progress)
        • Explores functioning of lifestyle elements through:
          • Observation
          • Play techniques
          • Questioning strategies
          • Art techniques
          • Metaphoric & storytelling techniques
          • Body-centered techniques (i.e., movement and dance)
          • Adventure techniques
          • Sand tray play
        • Develops a conceptualization of:
          • The child and their issues
        • Depending on whether the therapy is done in a clinic or a school, the conceptualization of:
          • The parent(s) and their issues or
          • The teacher and their issues
            • Completes a treatment plan based on the conceptualization of the child and/or parent(s), and/or teacher
            • Typical time spent in this phase: 4-6 sessions
            • The target mechanisms for progression out of this phase include the child responding appropriately to the following techniques and strategies designed to gather information about the child’s lifestyle:
              • Play techniques
              • Questioning strategies
              • Art techniques
              • Metaphoric & storytelling techniques
              • Body-centered techniques (i.e., movement and dance)
              • Sand tray techniques
      • In Phase III: Helping the Child Gain Insight into Their Lifestyle, therapist:
        • Engages in reflective skills from Phase I
        • Responds nonverbally in a responsive manner to the child (i.e., matches the child’s progress)
        • Conducts at least 1 of the other skills:
          • Metacommunication about lifestyle, patterns in and across sessions, and meaning underneath interactions with therapists, behaviors, and feeling in session
          • Using custom-designed therapeutic metaphors, mutual storytelling, Creative Characters, and/or bibliotherapy based on the child’s conceptualization form and treatment plan
          • Inviting the child to do art activities/ techniques to help them gain insight into their worldview
          • Creating sand trays or art pieces for the child as a vehicle to help him/her gain insight
        • Typical time spent in this phase: 4-6 sessions
        • The target mechanism for progression out of this phase: Child exhibits change that would reflect insight into their life style (i.e., recognition reflex, play themes)
      • Phase IV: Reorienting and Reeducating the Child when Necessary, therapist:
        • Engages in reflective skills from Phase I
        • Responds nonverbally in a responsive manner to the child (i.e., matches the child’s progress)
        • Uses at least 1 of the other skills from Phase III
        • Uses at least one of the following skills to help the child reorient to their more positive way of being:
          • Play activities
          • Brainstorming
          • Discussion
          • Storytelling and metaphoric techniques
          • Art techniques
          • Puppet play
          • Didactic teaching, homework, modeling, and/or role-playing to:
            • Help child generate ideas/ strategies
            • Set up ways for child to practice
            • Teach child ideas and/or skills for at least half of the lifestyle elements outlined in the treatment manual
        • Typical time spent in this phase: 4-6 sessions
        • The target mechanisms for progression out of this phase includes:
          • Child begins to generalize new ideas and skills for positive behaviors, thoughts, and feelings both:
            • Inside the playroom as evidenced by observation of the therapist (i.e., play themes, verbal patterns)
            • Outside the playroom as evidenced by parent, teacher, and/or child report of improvement in the at least half of the lifestyle elements outlined in the treatment manual

Program Delivery

Child/Adolescent Services

Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT) directly provides services to children/adolescents and addresses the following:

  • Disruptive behaviors, depression, anxiety, trauma symptoms, aggression, and co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems impeding holistic development
Services Involve Family/Support Structures:

This program involves the family or other support systems in the individual's treatment: Regular, ongoing parent and/or teacher consultation is part of the AdPT protocol depending on if AdPT is provided in a clinical mental health setting or school setting

Recommended Intensity:

One 50-minute individual session per week or two 30-minute individual sessions per week

Recommended Duration:

8 weeks – 16 weeks

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

  • Outpatient Clinic
  • Community-based Agency / Organization / Provider
  • School Setting (Including: Day Care, Day Treatment Programs, etc.)

Homework

This program does not include a homework component.

Languages

Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT) has materials available in languages other than English:

Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin

For information on which materials are available in these languages, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed at the bottom of this page).

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

A play space with toys and materials that facilitate a wide range of play activity

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

A person with a master’s degree in a mental health profession who has either obtained or is actively working toward full licensure under supervision as a mental health provider.

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Program Manual(s)

Manual details:

  • Kottman, T., Meany-Walen, K. K., Parson, M., & Dillman Taylor, D. (2021). Treatment manual for Adlerian Play Therapy - Revised. Unpublished.

For more information, please contact the Training Contact below.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Contact:
Training Type/Location:

Online and in person options available

Number of days/hours:

1-week class that includes 35 hours of instruction and 5 hours of group supervision

Implementation Information

Pre-Implementation Materials

There are no pre-implementation materials to measure organizational or provider readiness for Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT).

Formal Support for Implementation

There is no formal support available for implementation of Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT).

Fidelity Measures

There are fidelity measures for Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT) as listed below:

The Adlerian Play Therapy Skills Checklist (AdPTSC): Instrument used to ensure treatment fidelity (Available through LEAPT, https://leapt.arlo.co/; contact the Training Contact for more information).

The AdPT Treatment Manual requires the use of the AdPTSC to ensure fidelity of intervention protocol. The AdPTSC was developed in 2009 as a training and supervision instrument for AdPT. The AdPTSC was first used and presented in AdPT research in 2014 as a means of supervising play therapists who delivered AdPT in research studies.

The AdPT Treatment Manual provides instructions on how to use the AdPTSC to determine adherence to protocol. Instructions include full descriptions of verbal and nonverbal categories as well as procedures for coding.

Additionally, the manual suggests that adherence above 90% indicates faithful implementation of AdPT protocol. Research on the AdPTSC reports an acceptable interrater reliability across the four phases of Adlerian Play Therapy, ranging from r = .78 to r = .89.

Established Psychometrics:

Dillman Taylor, D., & Kottman, T. (2019). Assessing the utility and fidelity of the Adlerian Play Therapy Skills Checklist using qualitative content analysis. International Journal of Play Therapy, 28(1), 13–21. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000082

Implementation Guides or Manuals

There are implementation guides or manuals for Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT) as listed below:

The manual outlines key principles and phases of the approach—such as building a therapeutic relationship, understanding the child's lifestyle, fostering insight, and promoting reorientation toward positive behaviors. It includes practical activities, tools, and strategies to help therapists interpret children's play and address underlying beliefs, emotions, and social interactions. Please contact the author at tkottman@cfu.net for more information.

Implementation Cost

There are no studies of the costs of Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT).

Research on How to Implement the Program

Research has been conducted on how to implement Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT) as listed below:

Dillman Taylor, D., & Kottman, T. (2019). Assessing the utility and fidelity of the Adlerian Play Therapy Skills Checklist using qualitative content analysis. International Journal of Play Therapy, 28(1), 13–21. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000082

Dillman Taylor, D., Thompson, K. A., & Kottman, T. (2022). Strengthening the efficacy of Adlerian Play Therapy through the measurement model. International Journal of Play Therapy, 31(3), 165–173. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000176

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being

Meany‐Walen, K. K., Bratton, S. C., & Kottman, T. (2014) Effects of Adlerian Play Therapy on reducing students' disruptive behaviors. Journal of Counseling & Development, 92(1), 47–56. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00129.x

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 6

Population:

  • Age — 6 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — 85% Caucasian
  • Gender — 5 Males
  • Status — Participants were children identified by classroom teachers as having disruptive behaviors.

Location/Institution: A public school in the Midwestern region of the United States

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to measure the effectiveness of Adlerian Play Therapy on one aspect of children’s disruptive behaviors in school—off-task behaviors. Participants were randomly assigned to the control group or the treatment group. Measures utilized include the Direct Observation Form (DOF). Results indicate that there was an improvement in the children’s behavior during and after the intervention, suggesting that Adlerian play therapy is a promising intervention for children’s externalizing classroom behaviors. Limitations include the small sample size, lack of follow-up, the irregular nature of the consultation with teachers and the lack of consultation with parents, the lack of stable baselines, and lack of follow-up.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

Meany-Walen, K. K., & Teeling, S. (2016). Adlerian Play Therapy with students with externalizing behaviors and poor social skills. International Journal of Play Therapy, 25(2), 64–77.  https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000022

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 5

Population:

  • Age — Not specified
  • Race/Ethnicity — 4 Caucasian and 1 African American
  • Gender — 4 Males and1 Female
  • Status — Participants were children identified by classroom teachers as having disruptive behaviors.

Location/Institution: A public school in the Midwestern region of the United States

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to examine Adlerian Play Therapy effects on children with disruptive classroom behaviors and poor social skills. Participants were randomly assigned to the control group or the treatment group. Measures utilized include the Direct Observation Form (DOF). Results indicate that there was effective to very effective treatment effects during the intervention and follow-up phases of the designs. Limitations include the small sample size, lack of follow-up, teachers did not wish to schedule time to meet with the counselor or process ideas for classroom behavior management, parents were not contacted to do consultation with the treatment provider, and the results cannot be generalized beyond that of the individual clients.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

Stutey, D. M., Dunn, M., Shelnut, J., & Ryan, J. B. (2017). Impact of Adlerian Play Therapy on externalizing behaviors of at-risk preschoolers. International Journal of Play Therapy, 26(4), 196–206. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000055

Type of Study: Pretest–posttest study with a nonequivalent control group (Quasi-experimental)
Number of Participants: 4

Population:

  • Age — 3–5 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — 100% African American
  • Gender — 3 Females and 1 Male
  • Status — Participants were at-risk African American preschool children.

Location/Institution: A neighborhood preschool in a medium-sized city in the Southeastern United State

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of using Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT) to reduce calling out and increase the ability to maintain appropriate boundaries of four preschool children during class circle time. Participants were in seven weeks of individual AdPT followed by seven weeks of Adlerian Group Play Therapy. Measures utilized include direct observation, the Intervention Rating Profile (IRP), and the Adlerian Play Therapy Skills Checklist (APTSC). Results indicate that upon completion of seven weeks of individual AdPT, children demonstrated questionable to moderate effect-size (ES) gains in reducing disruptive classroom behaviors. After receiving an additional seven weeks of the Adlerian Group Play Therapy, children demonstrated moderate to high ES improvements. Limitations include the small sample size and lack of controlled postintervention follow-up.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

Additional References

Dillman Taylor, D., & Kottman, T. (2019). Assessing the utility and fidelity of the Adlerian Play Therapy Skills Checklist using qualitative content analysis. International Journal of Play Therapy, 28(1), 13–21. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000082

  • Dillman Taylor, D., Thompson, K. A., & Kottman, T. (2022). Strengthening the efficacy of Adlerian Play Therapy through the measurement model. International Journal of Play Therapy, 31(3), 165–173. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000176

Contact Information

Dalena Dillman Taylor, PhD
Agency/Affiliation: University of North Texas
Website: leapt.arlo.co
Email:
Phone: (940) 565-2910

Date Research Evidence Last Reviewed by CEBC: February 2025

Date Program Content Last Reviewed by Program Staff: November 2024

Date Program Originally Loaded onto CEBC: August 2025