Effectiveness of lego therapy training program on social interaction and stereotypic behaviors in children with autism

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Counseling, Islamic Azad University, West Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Aim. The aim of present study was to investigate the effectiveness of lego therapy training program on the social interaction and stereotypic behaviors in children with autism. Methods. The present research was a semi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test design and control group. The participants were 22 children with autism from Tehran city in 2017-2018 academic year who were selected by convenient sampling method. Subjects were divided into experiment and control groups randomly, each group consisting of 11 children. The experiment group participated in 16 sessions of lego therapy training program (twice a week; each session lasted 60 minutes), while the control group did not. The tool utilized was Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS). Multivariate analysis of covariance was used by SPSS24 for analyzing the data. Results. The results showed that lego therapy training program had a significant effect on the social interaction and stereotypic behaviors children with autism. Conclusion. The lego therapy training program can increase social interaction and decrease stereotypic behaviors of children with autism; Therefore, planning for make use of this program is of particular importance.

Keywords


American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorder. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Andras, M. (2012). The value of LEGO® therapy in promoting social interaction in primary aged children with autism. Good Autism Practice, 13(2): 17-24.
Boyne, S. E. (2014). An evaluation of the ‘LEGO® therapy intervention used to support children with social communication difficulties in their mainstream classroom. Doctoral dissertation. University of Nottingham.
Bulmer, L. and Smith, H. (2011). The use of Lego serious play in the engineering design classroom. Available at:http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/pc.
Costa, S. C. C., Soares, F., Santos, C., Pereira, A. P and Moreira, M. F. (2016). Lego robots and autism spectrum disorders: a potential partnership? Revista de Estudios e Investigación en Psicología y Educación, 3(1): 50-59.
Esbjørn, B. H., Normann, N., Christiansen, B. M., Reinholdt-Dunne, M. L. (2018). The efficacy of group metacognitive therapy for children (MCT-c) with generalized anxiety disorder: An open trial. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 53, 16-21.
Gilliam, J. E. (1995). Gilliam Autism Rating Scale: Examiner's Manual: Pro-ed.
Hallahan, D. P., Kauffman, J. M. and Pullen, P. C. (2015). Exceptional learners: an introduction to special education (13th Ed). Published by Pearson Education, Inc.
Huskens, B., Palmen, A., Van Der Werff, M., Lourens, T. and Barakova, E. (2015). Improving collaborative play between children with autism spectrum disorders and their siblings: The effectiveness of a robot-mediated intervention based on lego therapy. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45, 3746-3755.
Kirk, S., Gallagher, G. and Coleman, M. R. (2015). Educating Exceptional Children (14th Ed). Cengage Learning, Printed in the United States of America.
LeGoff, D. B. (2004). Use of LEGO© as a therapeutic medium for improving social competence. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34(5): 557-571.
LeGoff, D. B., De La Cuesta, G. G., Krauss, G. W. and Baron-Cohen, S. (2014). LEGO®-based therapy: How to build social competence through LEGO®- based clubs for children with autism and related conditions. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Lindsay, S., Hounsell, K. G. and Cassiani, C. A. (2017). Scoping review of the role of LEGO® therapy for improving inclusion and social skills among children and youth with autism. Disability and Health Journal, 10(2): 173-182.
Mccusker, S. (2014). Lego serious play: Thinking about teaching and learning. International Journal of Knowledge, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2(1): 27-37.
Owens, G., Granader, Y., Humphrey, A. and Baron-Cohen, S. (2008). LEGO® therapy and the social use of language programme: An evaluation of two social skills interventions for children with high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 38(10): 1944-1957.
Peckett, H., MacCallum, F. and Knibbs, J. (2016). Maternal experience of Lego therapy in families with children with autism spectrum conditions: What is the impact on family relationships? Autism, 20(7): 879-887.
Yanhui, P. (2010). Lego games help young children with autism develop social skills, International Journal of Education, 2(2): 1-9.