LEGO Based Therapy is a social development programme for autistic individuals. It develops communication and social skills through teaching sharing, turn taking, listening, team work, shared attention and problem solving (LeGoff et al. 2012). Developing these skills within the individuals strengths and interests. I have multiple autistic children in my class who would benefit from LEGO Based Therapy and who already all have a passion for LEGO.
Daniel B LeGoff developed LEGO Therapy in the early 2000s and saw this as a great activity to support social skills through the use of a shared interest in LEGO and to use this as a way to have positive interactions with peers and develop social skills in an environment that was enjoyable. “A key aspect of LEGO Therapy is enhancement of motivation for social interaction and social self efficacy through the experience of a potential intrinsically rewarding group activity” (LeGoff et al. 2012).
The LEGO Based Therapy programme progresses the child through stages from 1:1 to groups or 2 and then into groups of 3 removing the facilitator so children have to problem solve and resolve conflict together. Each child has a role which works to develop their social and communicative competence. It was emphasised throughout the workshop that the group must be an appropriate match. The facilitator is required to analyse characteristics of the individuals, time of day the activity takes place and other environmental factors before making a group and starting the programme.
When researching LEGO therapy the first article I read was by the creator Daniel B LeGoff. His study in 2004 went over 12 and 24 weeks and the therapy found increased social competence across a range of sources. The research style was a “repeated-measures, waiting list control design” to “assess efficacy of social skill interventions” through Lego Therapy (LeGoff et al. 2012). The study found significant improvements and positive outcomes for the children involved in the LEGO Therapy compared to the control group. An area of interest within this study was that “no gender differences were found on outcome, and age of clients was not correlated with outcome” (LeGoff et al. 2012).
The second article was by Simon Baron Cohen, a co author from the LEGO Therapy Book that the workshop I attended was based on. The type of research used was a comparison study to evaluate the effectiveness of LEGO therapy and Social Use of Language Programme to develop and generalise social skills.
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The research found improvements across both interventions, their methods over weekly sessions, which lead to the conclusion that both are better than no intervention. Overall LEGO Therapy showed larger improvements in initiating social interaction and with increased generalisation skills as individuals learn to communicate and follow social rules to complete the LEGO build. Through this research article, Simon Baron Cohen's ideas around autistic individuals showing specific interest in systems gives suggestions to the motivation that LEGO can be adapted to improve emotional regulation skills. Emotional regulation skills are a large factor with this goal students within my class setting often have heightened anxiety and states of arousal during social communication interactions. “Dewey et al. (1988) found that after rule governed games, construction materials (LEGO is an example of a construction material) were the next most effective means of facilitating complex social interactions in pairs of children with autism in contrast to dramatic play and functional play” (Baron-Cohen et al. 2008). This linked well with the workshop guidance on using the mini figures to act out specific social scenarios as a form of modelling.
Through this research I predict that the use of LEGO therapy sessions will improve student turn taking, students will learn to listen and collaborate in small groups and have longer sustained joint attention moments with others, while developing skills in fixing breakdowns in communication.
These areas were common challenges that were noted during my initial BASC assessment at the start of the year. I have since put students into their appropriate groups that support their social communication levels. So far the groups have been successful and well matched. Within these groups students have been assessed using the LEGO assessment. I am basing my findings from 3 different groups from 3 different communication levels. There were common findings between each group and individual.
During LEGO therapy sessions all groups strengths were around better turn taking due to the environments and the roles that LEGO therapy creates. All groups with adult support were able to follow the rules. Common challenges were around initiating conversation, helping others and asking for help if stuck, students often jump ahead from engineers instructions. The group’s previous experience and skill level with LEGO play has an impact on ease of completing the task. The group's communication level impacted their skill level and strategies to compromise and negotiate. All groups responded positively to each other during interactions.
As a class we found that students could have better success in kit building if their were pre sessions learning key language i.e brick and tile, under, on top, next to. This became a fun introductory sorting activity.
With the assessment forms students and groups are able to have targets each session using an observation template to write down roles and skill level. The class LEGO rules are read out at the start of each session and key language mats are used to support communication and understanding with visual support. These supports and targets will enable us to work towards improved skills from BASC and work towards my LEGO therapy predictions.
Reference List:
Baron-Cohen. S, Granader. Y, Humphrey. A, Owens. G, (2008). LEGO Therapy and the Social Use of Language Programme: An Evaluation of Two Social Skills Interventions for Children with High Functioning Autism and Asperger Syndrome. J Autism Dev Disorder. Springer Science+Business Media LLC.
LeGoff, B, D (2004)., Use of LEGO as a Therapeutic Medium for Improving Social Competence. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Vol. 34, No.5,
LeGoff, D., B., Krauss, W, G,. Allen, L, S (2012) LEGO - Based Play Therapy for Improving Social Competence in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Play - based interventions for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (Chapter 6 pp 115-136). New York, Routledge.
Nathan, E. (2020 September) LEGO - Based Therapy [ Workshop] Grow Workshop, Auckland, New Zealand.
