28th January is International Lego Day and celebrates the day that Danish Carpenter, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, first submitted his patent for the original Lego brick. The name Lego comes from the Danish words ‘LEg GOdt’, meaning ‘play well’.
Children around the world enjoy Lego as a toy, but at Young People at Heart our Social Work Assistants have been trained to use Lego to help and support our foster carers and foster children.
Lego therapy is a play-based intervention, which focuses on developing collaborative play skills. Historically, it has predominately been used with children who have Autism or social interaction difficulties. However, we are using Lego therapy with all of our young people to promote their development and learning.
Lego therapy works on the key areas of social interaction, such as taking turns, listening to others and following instructions, eye contact, problem solving and sharing. In addition to this, it works on skills such as size, prepositions, fine motor skills and colours.
Within a group session, our Social Work Assistants will lead in helping to set the ‘ground rules’ with the young people. Each young person is given a role. These are a builder, supplier and engineer. In addition to this, there may be a director role too (usually our Social Work Assistant). Each role contributes towards the Lego model being built, and the sense of achievement in completing the task successfully.
After the Lego therapy session, the young people’s improvement in communication skills, problem solving and teamwork will be assessed and where needed, follow up sessions will be organised.
Young People at Heart is a not-for-profit foster care organisation and we are committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for young people in foster care. Our Social Work Assistants play a key role in achieving this objective. In addition to Lego therapy, they are trained in Life Story work and theraplay techniques, and they work directly with, and provide much needed support to, our foster carers and young people.
