Kerry Bray, Speech & Language Therapist Lego Therapy Or “Building Club” Building Club – We called our group Building Club to ensure that we were able to adopt the principles of Lego Therapy but at the same time was not limited to using only that resource e.g. Marble run, Duplo, Puzzles. Kerry Bray, Speech & Language Therapist

What is Lego Therapy? Lego Therapy involves incorporating children’s natural interests as part of the therapy approach It uses highly structured, predictable and systematic toys i.e. Lego (Baron-Cohen 2002, 2006; Baron Cohen et al, 2003). It promotes the use of a naturalistic approach in order to improve generalisation (Delprato, 2001; Kohler et al, 1997).

Aims of Lego Therapy To provide opportunities for pupils to communicate and interact with peers at a similar developmental level. To develop social interaction skills using motivating group activities, facilitated by adults. To develop shared attention, turn taking, negotiation and problem solving skills, appropriate to the pupil’s developmental level.

How it works… 1. Engineer Reads the plan & gives the instructions to the supplier 2. Supplier Listens & finds the correct pieces 3. Builder Reads the plan & puts the pieces together to create the model. Group consists of 3 pupils; Each pupil has an individual role assigned to them.

Group Structure Each session begins with discussion of rules & roles Pupils to carry out 10-15 mins in each role before rotating Pupils have opportunity to co-operatively play with the model for the last 10-15 mins of session Everyone wants to be the builder! Same structure every time is important.

Role of the Adult To act as a facilitator and encourage the pupils to solve their own problems and teach them strategies. Provide good language model To support understanding of vocabulary and expressive language To provide positive reinforcement 3. Support rec/ expr using topic boards or PECS; 4. of comm and social interaction/ play skills with peers – needs to be specific!

Setting targets Why? To ensure the groups are effective - children are achieving To show that the children are improving (or not!) in specific skills Adapt activities so that they are easier or harder; may change children in grp if they are at different levels of cognitive and/ or social competence

SMART TARGETS Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time measured S = states precisely e.g. will look at peer with prompts?; M = “will improve”5 X; A =within time frame with those resources; R = within pupil’s capability w/in time frame?; TM = by when? Otherwise may have improved spontaneously/

Social skills to target Body language Social Interaction Verbal Interaction Other Eye contact Facial expressions Gestures Distance Touch Fidgeting Posture Shared attention Sharing motivating items Taking turns Working collaboratively Listening Gaining someone’s attention Giving instructions Clarifying an instruction Verbal turn taking Responding to a peer Asking questions Being relevant Making comments Maintaining attention throughout session Requesting help Maintaining role Clarity of speech (intelligibility/ volume/ rate/ fluency) Example of target: To be able to wait for his turn during a motivating activity with no more than 2 adult visual/verbal prompts per session. To be able to give an instruction containing 2 key words to another member of the group. e.g. ‘pass me the small red brick please’ with visual support as necessary for 80% of the sessions throughout the term.

Efficacy Evidence LeGoff (2004) – reported that 24 weeks of Lego Therapy (90 minute group sessions; 1 hour individual session per week) significantly improved social competence (self initiated social contact, duration of social contact and reductions in stereotypical behaviour) in 47 children with Autism. LeGoff (2004) stated that generalisation had occurred in other social contexts as a result of the Lego Therapy reporting an increase in initiating social contacts and the duration of such interactions in the school playground. Efficacy Evidence – What the literature tells us about the effectiveness of using Lego Therapy for children with ASD

Interesting Findings LeGoff and Sherman’s (2006) study suggested the outcome was not impacted by diagnosis, i.e. individuals with Aspergers Syndrome, PDD, Autistic Spectrum Disorder all benefitted from the approach Lego Therapy is more effective with children who have relatively intact language abilities

Planning Select pupils according to criteria 2. Purchase resources 3. Make resources e.g. visual symbols, role cards, student rating scale, adapted Building club Rules 4. Share information re Lego therapy with staff 1. Who will benefit? Match in grps of 3 acc to cognitive and comm ability 5. Need to compare with post-group questionnaire

Planning 2 6. Contact parents providing info about the group, ask them to complete a baseline questionnaire relating to pupils’ social skills at home & obtain consent for videoing Ask staff to complete a baseline questionnaire 8. Take baseline videos of 1st groups

Next Steps… Pilot 4 groups of pupils over Autumn Term Evaluate through outcome evaluation forms from staff & parents Evaluate through comparing social skills abilities in baseline and final videos of sessions as well as achievement of targets Evaluate these groups at half term and see if capacity for more

Any Questions