When Jessica Harding’s son, Brayden, asked her for skateboarding lessons a year ago, her first instinct was to tell him no.

A single mother, Harding knew her anxieties sometimes verged on overprotectiveness, but she also had ample reasons to doubt Brayden’s sudden fascination with skateboarding. At 8 years old, her son often struggled to make friends, and his sensory sensitivities and seemingly endless list of fears made navigating most extra-curricular activities torturous. A skate park, Harding thought, would probably be among the least welcoming places for a kid like Brayden.

Serious Juju proved her assumptions wrong.

“This has been a breakthrough,” Harding said as she watched Brayden zoom down a wooden ramp, light-up sneakers flashing. “He’s more social with kids. He wants to help p

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