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What is Lego Based Therapy?
Lego-based therapy was created by Dr LeGoff as a social development programme for children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other social communication difficulties.
Dr LeGoff noticed that children with ASD and other social communication difficulties were naturally attracted to playing with Lego, and by using it in a therapeutic and structured way, it could naturally strengthen appropriate social behaviour.
In Lego therapy, adults run a structured group where children work in teams of 3 to build a Lego model and each child has a particular role (please see below).
Lego therapy can also be adapted to work on language targets, so it can work really well as an intervention for children with Speech, Language, and Communication Needs (SLCN).
Key Area of Need
Speech, Language and Communication needs.
Lego therapy was originally created for children with social difficulties associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Asperger’s, and even Anxiety Disorders.
Lego therapy can also be effective for children with receptive and expressive language difficulties with or without social communication difficulties
Age Group
This intervention can be used with Primary age pupils from 5 years old upwards. Pre unit and post unit assessments take place with the pupil to identify areas of strength and areas for further development.
How does it work?
Each child in the group is given a specific role to carry out:
1. The Engineer (also known as the Architect) – uses the instructions to tell the others what to do.
Only the Engineer sees the instructions for the build
They describe the bricks to the Supplier
They check that the Builder gets the correct bricks
They explain to the Builder how to build the model
They answer any questions to help understanding
They check that the model is built correctly
2. The Supplier – supplies the builder with the bricks to build the model
They sort out the bricks to make the model
Thy listen to descriptions from the Engineer
They ask questions to help understanding
They pass the correct brick to the Builder
They wait patiently in between turns (this can be difficult!)
3. The Builder – follows the instructions to build the model
They get the bricks from the Supplier
They listen to the instructions from the Engineer
They ask the Engineer questions to clarify
They follow the instructions to build the model
They wait patiently in between turns
The adult running the group acts as “The Facilitator”, which means:
The adult should not be part of the group or a ‘director’.
They should try not to tell the Engineer what to say or give too much help to the Builder or Supplier.
Instead they can prompt and offer ideas for strategies if they feel the group are becoming frustrated, e.g. using a checklist, a lego naming guide, a template for clarifying questions.
Always give them a chance to problem solve as a group first.
The facilitator can give specific praise to the children for what they have done well.
Planning Groups
Group Dynamics
Groups of 2 -3 children
Once a group is established you may have more than one group running at one time (e.g. 2 groups of 3)
Ideally you need 2 adults to run the group
Avoid grouping children with a number of behaviour problems together
Each group will need good communication role models within them
A club approach can be used with multiple groups
Environment:
Things to Consider
Quiet distraction free environment
Chairs around a table
Space to spread out during free play or freestyle play
Space to clearly display timetable, rules, role allocations
Ideally the same space used each time
Storage for resources
Equipment
Visual Supports (timetable, rules, roles, job descriptors)
LEGO Equipment – well organised for easy access
Frequency and Duration
At least one a week
KS1 – up to 30 mins, KS2 up to an hour (it depends on the number of LEGO pieces being used)
Where to access this resource:
You can access all of the resources for Lego based therapy, from our intervention drive:
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