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LEGO ® Therapy was originally conceptualised by American clinical psychologist Dan LeGoff, outlined in his 2004 book Using LEGO ® as a Therapeutic Medium for Improving Social Competence; based upon his clinical work with children with autism spectrum condition (ASC). Whilst working with children with ASC, LeGoff noticed that children in the waiting room of his Florida clinic would engage in pro-social and collaborative behaviour with LEGO ®, despite showing no previous inclination to voluntarily interact with others. Inspired by this observation, LeGoff decided to explore the efficacy of LEGO ® as a therapeutic medium in a more formalised way as he felt that other therapy approaches were difficult, irrelevant, or un-engaging. Over a number of years and with several subsequent published studies, LEGO ® Therapy became a formalised intervention with the aim of 'improving the social competency of children with ASC'. LEGO ®Therapy has since become an intervention commonly adopted by schools for usage with a wide range of children with a range of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), including those who do not have diagnoses of ASC.
The purpose of this piece of research is to provide a piece of literature to explore and provide some understanding of the current practice around the use of LEGO ® Therapy as a social skills intervention for children without a diagnosis of ASC. The theoretical inception of LEGO ® Therapy was formulated around the specific social learning difficulties that children with ASC present (LeGoff, 2004). However, the success of the approach has since attracted interest from a wider scope of professionals, who have co-opted the intervention as a more general tool for improving the social skills of all children, and there is currently no existing research that underpins this. Furthermore, no existing literature has sought to explore the experiences of key stakeholders within the intervention.
This study consists of two phases. The first explored the experiences and perceptions of school practitioners involved in the administration and delivery of LEGO ® Therapy, and the second phase explored the perceptions and experiences of caregivers and children. Interviews, utilising a hierarchical focused interviewing (HFI; Tomlinson, 1989) approach, were completed with school- based LEGO ® Therapy practitioners and school SENCos, in order to gain organisational and professional perspectives, as well as interviews with caregivers of children receiving the intervention, and the children themselves (utilising a form of photo elicitation methodology; Yan, Yuejuan & Hongfens, 2005; Smith, Duncan & Marshall, 2005); in order to gain perspectives of key stakeholders benefitting from the intervention.
This study found that, generally, LEGO ® Therapy is well received by practitioners, caregivers and children, and all parties feel that the intervention has strong utility beyond the initial (LeGoff, 2004; LeGoff & Sherman, 2006) research’s focus. There are a number of structural and organisational factors which need to be considered (e.g., resourcing, training, intervention purpose) and given the socio-economic climate, may influence schools’ decisions to implement and administer a LEGO ® Therapy intervention. Furthermore, many of the factors identified as being of key importance to LEGO ® Therapy’s success are not unique to the intervention itself and may be explained, in part, by commonly occurring factors. Findings of this thesis also discuss whether LEGO ® Therapy can be considered inclusive practice and considers the extent to which both caregiver and child voice has been implemented in the current delivery of LEGO ® Therapy and outlines some discussion around future directions for the intervention. |
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