Lego Therapy

Miss Sue is trained in delivering Lego Therapy

What is Lego Therapy?

LEGO-Based Therapy is a social development program that uses LEGO activities to support the development of a wide range of communication and social skills within a group setting.

Playing with LEGO in a therapy setting promotes social interaction, turn-taking skills, sharing, collaborative problem-solving and the learning of concepts. It can be used to target goals around social skills, language and motor skills. By using a commonly adored tool like LEGO it capitalises on its existing motivation and supports self-esteem by allowing the participants to demonstrate their skills in a social situation. It also sets up a positive opportunity for guided social problem-solving to help develop social skills that can then be used in other situations.

LEGO-Based Therapy provides a highly structured environment where everyone plays a specific role within the group. This can help children feel calm and relaxed as they are doing something that they enjoy and know precisely what to expect and what is expected of them.

Each child (and supporting adult) takes on one of four specific roles to do this:

• The Engineer oversees reading and relaying the instructions. The Engineer must tell the Supplier what pieces to retrieve and tell the Builder how to build the model.
• The Supplier oversees finding the correct LEGO pieces. The Supplier must listen to the Engineer and figure out what piece to retrieve, and then given these pieces to the Builder.
• The Builder oversees physically building the model. The Builder must listen to instructions provided by the Engineer and receive the pieces that are retrieved by the Supplier.
• The Foreman makes sure everyone is doing what they need to do. They provide help to other roles when needed and look out for social challenges that may need problem-solving by the group.

Using this format provides each child with an opportunity to practise and develop a wide range of skills, including language skills (in both giving and receiving instructions) turn-taking, negotiating, sharing and collaborative social problem-solving. It also encourages children to reflect on their own actions and skills as well as give constructive feedback to their peers.