ABSTRACT
As a creative arts therapist, the therapeutic curriculum usually centres on eliciting an artistic expression to preserve impressions the child experiences as a form of documentation. Creating something acts as a 'diary', encouraging memory recall to fix the experience in time and space. Images help to re-articulate the experience especially when relating to others, which in turn assist with self-insight, enhanced cognition and socialization. To make activities special, the therapist, teacher or even coach must not only be able to break each skill down into manageable increments, but also make the experience an 'event'. Competitive skiing is a challenge for any child, requiring skill, endurance, long periods of practice and family support–of travel, expense and commitment. For a teen on the spectrum, making the transition between recreational skiing and competition was nothing less than momentous. Yet with such competition, anxiety takes its toll.
