Lego Groups

St Mary’s Primary School has recently set up a school-based group using the principles of “ Lego Therapy ” to help children develop social and communication skills in a safe and nurturing environment. 
Building with Lego bricks is a fun, multi-sensory, open-ended experience and research has shown that this form of therapy motivates children to work in pairs to problem solve and build a Lego model, according to a set of agreed rules.  

Each child is assigned a role as either “architect” or  “ builder”.   

• The “ architect ” gives verbal descriptions of the pieces needed and
  directions for assembling them.       
•  The “ builder ” follows the given instructions, collects and puts the pieces of Lego together.

 Roles  are switched half way through the task and this division of labour with a common purpose allows children to practice joint attention, turn-taking, sharing and listening skills. 
The  group meets once a week for six weeks in the Junior School and is facilitated by the SENCo Mrs Wolfe and Classroom Assistants. The role of the adults is to promote positive interactions, suggest compromises, provide prompts if necessary and keep the group “on task”.

We would like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions received from Aisling Feeney, ASAS Support Officer with the Western Education and Library Board who facilitated the first six sessions and who continues to provide ongoing support
and expertise.

---