SEND & Inclusion

Lego Therapy

At St. Anne’s Catholic Primary school we may use weekly Lego Therapy sessions (Lego Club) to help develop pupils’ social communication skills.

Lego therapy is a collaborative play therapy in which children work together to build Lego models.

Instead of building Lego sets by themselves, children work in teams of three.

The task of Lego building is divided into different roles so that that social interaction is necessary to participate.

Each child takes on one of the specific roles:

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.

During the sessions the children practice the key skills of collaboration, joint attention, fair division of labour, sharing, turn-taking, eye-contact, gaze-following, and verbal and non-verbal communication, all whilst having fun.

Can Lego-Therapy be done at home?

Absolutely! Dust off some of those LEGO sets and get the family involved with LEGO Therapy at home.

Do not have any LEGO sets at home? That is okay! If you have random LEGO bricks search ‘simple LEGO builds’ on Google, and you’ll be provided with a range of different things to build.

Two, three, or four people can join in this activity with each person taking on a fun role!

Playing with three people:

First, choose someone to be the Engineer. This person will be the gatekeeper of the LEGO® project (the instruction booklet). The other members of the group are not allowed to see the project book. This means The Engineer will need to use their communication skills to describe the pieces needed and how to put them together.
The Engineer provides instructions to both the Supplier and the Builder.
The Engineer will describe the size, shape, colour, how many pieces, and how many bumps the LEGO® pieces need.
The Engineer will provide instructions for how to build the project. For example, the Engineer could say “Put the white piece in the middle of the blue roof” if you were building a house.
Second, choose someone to be the Supplier. This is a pivotal role in the world of construction.
The Supplier is responsible for ensuring that they have the correct pieces of LEGO for the Builder.
The Supplier can ‘check-in’ with the Engineer by showing them the LEGO piece and confirming it is correct.
If it is correct, they pass it to the Builder.
If it is incorrect, the Supplier can ask for more information from the Engineer.
Finally, choose someone to play the most coveted role in the project – the Builder.
The Builder is responsible for building the project.
The Builder listens to instructions provided by the Engineer for building.
The Builder must work with the Engineer to ensure what they are building is the same as what is in the project booklet.

Playing with two people:

If there are only two of you, one person can take on two roles. For example, one person may be the Supplier and Builder and the other person the Engineer.

Playing with four people.

If you have four people, then the Foreman role can be introduced. The Foreman makes sure the team are working together to build their project. This person can share encouraging words, compliment others, or help someone with their role.

(From https://therapyfocus.org.au/, 2022)