Terry Kottman developed Adlerian play therapy, an approach to working with children and families that combines the ideas and techniques of Individual Psychology and play therapy. She founded the League of Extraordinary Adlerian Play Therapists and created a certification program for Adlerian play therapy. She is co-author of Doing Play Therapy: From Building the Relationship to Facilitating Change and Partners in Play: An Adlerian Approach to Play Therapy, and the co-author of Play Therapy: Basics and Beyond. In 2014, she was granted a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Play Therapy; in 2017, she was given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Iowa Association for Play Therapy; and in 2020, she received a third Lifetime Achievement Award from the North American Society for Adlerian Psychology. In 2024, the National Board for Certified Counselors gave Terry the Innovation in Counseling: Practice and Clinical Service Award.