Lego: A Therapy for Everyone

LEGO-based therapy is a new concept. Developed by Daniel LeGoff in 2004, LEGO Therapy has been proven to develop social communication skills such as sharing, turn taking, following rules and problem solving, as well as improving emotional literacy skills such as encouraging empathy, enhancing resilience and self-esteem, bringing about greater awareness and improving the ability to self-regulate and self-soothe.

Using 3 distinct roles, pupils are encouraged to work together to build a LEGO model collaboratively. The 3 roles are:

• Engineer: uses the LEGO instructions and ask the Supplier for the specific pieces of LEGO
• Supplier: gives the Builder the pieces
• Builder: follows the building instructions from the Engineer in order to construct the model

LEGO acts as a motivating tool, and building as a team provides an immediate shared focus of attention. Pupils can experience the power of positive communication: the Engineer sees the Builder receive the correct LEGO pieces and construct part of a model as a direct and immediate consequence of the language used.

At Mary Astell Academy we have developed a 2 strand approach to LEGO Therapy, encouraging pupils to act as a group and adapting the main concepts into a 1:1 intervention. Within these Interventions pupils act as “LEGO Builder”, whereby they are able to carry out the jobs of LEGO Builder, Supplier and Engineer as well as build a small LEGO set on their own, or “Lego Creator” where they are able to design a LEGO creation, find the pieces and build the creation.

Pupils have enjoyed this intervention due to its hands on nature and naturalistic setting, rather than direct teaching, and have happily enjoyed on a shared journey of exploration, building relationships with staff as they go.