What is Brick Club? The Lowdown on LEGO®-Based Therapy
The best form of therapy is the one that your child enjoys engaging in. That is why I could not pass up the opportunity to offer LEGO®-based Therapy as an option for children.
What is Brick Club?
Brick club is a LEGO®-based therapy social development program for school-aged children, created by neuropsychologist, Daniel B. LeGoff.
Some children find it challenging to interact with peers during unstructured play, such as during school breaks, at the park, or at birthday parties. While originally designed as a social development therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder, Brick Clubs around the world have since helped many children with social, communication and motor difficulties. Brick Club provides an activity-focused opportunity in a safe environment for children to practice a wide range of skills, including positive social communication, sharing, turn-taking, fine motor skills, and collaborative problem solving. Brick Club provides a highly structured environment, with each child playing a specific role within the group. In this way. LEGO building is transformed from a primarily solo activity to a group challenge. This can help children feel calm and relaxed, as they are doing something they enjoy and know precisely what is expected of them.
What Happens During a Brick Club Session?
Each session includes a small group of children who work together to create LEGO® models. During model building, roles are allocated to each member of the group. The roles include:
The Engineer: The Engineer is responsible for reading and explaining the instructions to the rest of the group.
The Supplier: The Supplier is responsible for finding the correct parts when they are needed and passing them to the Builder.
The Builder: The builder is responsible for listening to the Engineer and placing the LEGO® bricks in the correct location.
The Helper: The Helper is responsible for giving assistance to the Engineer, Supplier and Builder. The Helper also make sure that everyone is working together as a team.
The roles are rotated throughout the session so that every child has an opportunity to practice their skills in each role.
Throughout the session Children are awarded points for practicing their excellent social-communication skills. Their achievements are praised, and their creativity always encouraged!
As the group builds their skills working together, the team can then choose to engage in free-style building. The focus of the freestyle building is collaborative problem solving and compromise, using all the skills learnt during the model building activity.
Psychology and Occupational Therapy Collaboration
Brick Club at Jade Goodman Psychology is run in collaboration with MyOT! Therapy Services. Daniela Clarke is a passionate and highly committed Occupational Therapist with over 25 years of experience working in the paediatrics community. Daniela’s OT lens brings expertise in whole brain-body development, including motor skills, sensory development, and social-emotional skills. While my psychology perspective offers a deeper understanding of learning and brain development, behaviour and self-esteem, and emotion-focused regulation support.
If you are interested in learning more about Brick Club, please Contact Me. Or find out more about MyOT! Therapy Services by clicking below:
