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Vegni N, D'Ardia C, Di Filippo G, Melchiori FM. The impact of Lego® Therapy on cognitive skills in Autism Spectrum Disorders: a brief discussion. AIMS Neurosci 2023; 10:190-199. [PMID: 37426776 PMCID: PMC10323259 DOI: 10.3934/neuroscience.2023016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2023] [Revised: 06/14/2023] [Accepted: 06/18/2023] [Indexed: 07/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Over the years, several interventions have been implemented, including Lego® Therapy, with the aim of supporting and implementing social and communication skills impairments in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Although recent studies have shown that the ability to learn implicitly is preserved in ASDs, no study related to Lego® Therapy has analyzed whether and how this training can also affect aspects not directly treated. In this study, we report a first attempt of assessment of Lego® Therapy's effect on the specific area of cognitive skills in an ASD child. Over a period of 12 months, a child with ASD had weekly meetings with an expert operator of Lego® aiming to improve the child's ability to communicate, reduce impulsiveness and hyper verbalism, and encourage pro-social behavior. The intervention resulted in positive outcomes that were assessed after 12 months.
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Wright B, Kingsley E, Cooper C, Biggs K, Bursnall M, Wang HI, Chater T, Coates E, Teare MD, McKendrick K, Gomez de la Cuesta G, Barr A, Solaiman K, Packham A, Marshall D, Varley D, Nekooi R, Parrott S, Ali S, Gilbody S, Le Couteur A. I-SOCIALISE: Results from a cluster randomised controlled trial investigating the social competence and isolation of children with autism taking part in LEGO ® based therapy ('Play Brick Therapy') clubs in school environments. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2023; 27:13623613231159699. [PMID: 36991578 PMCID: PMC10576908 DOI: 10.1177/13623613231159699] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/31/2023]
Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT Autism is characterised by keen interests and differences in social interactions and communication. Activities that help autistic children and young people with social skills are commonly used in UK schools. LEGO® based therapy is a new activity that provides interesting and fun social opportunities for children and young people and involves building LEGO® models together. This study looked at LEGO® based therapy for the social skills of autistic children and young people in schools. It was a randomised controlled trial, meaning each school was randomly chosen (like flipping a coin) to either run LEGO® based therapy groups in school over 12 weeks and have usual support from school or other professionals, or only have usual support from school or other professionals. The effect of the LEGO® based therapy groups was measured by asking children and young people, their parents/guardians, and a teacher at school in both arms of the study to complete some questionnaires. The main objective was to see if the teacher's questionnaire answers about the children and young people's social skills changed between their first and second completions. The social skills of participants in the LEGO® based therapy groups were found to have improved in a small way when compared to usual support only. The study also found that LEGO® based therapy was not very costly for schools to run and parents/guardians and teachers said they thought it was good for their children and young people. We suggest further research into different potential benefits of LEGO® based therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ellen Kingsley
- COMIC Research, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, UK
| | - Cindy Cooper
- Clinical Trials Research Unit, University of Sheffield, UK
| | - Katie Biggs
- Clinical Trials Research Unit, University of Sheffield, UK
| | | | | | - Tim Chater
- Clinical Trials Research Unit, University of Sheffield, UK
| | | | | | | | | | - Amy Barr
- Clinical Trials Research Unit, University of Sheffield, UK
| | - Kiera Solaiman
- Clinical Trials Research Unit, University of Sheffield, UK
| | - Anna Packham
- Clinical Trials Research Unit, University of Sheffield, UK
| | | | | | - Roshanak Nekooi
- COMIC Research, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, UK
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Aguglia E, Fusar-Poli L. Still a Long Way to Go. Editorial for the Special Issue "Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorder". Brain Sci 2021; 11:1062. [PMID: 34439681 PMCID: PMC8392122 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11081062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Revised: 08/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Although many years have passed since the first descriptions of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) [...].
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Laura Fusar-Poli
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Psychiatry Unit, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italy;
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