Crystel Care is excited to introduce to you our LEGO® Club Program. Through supported evidence-based research, we offer customisable programs that are created by our highly experienced team. What does this look like? You will work in collaboration with our Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists and Behaviour Support Practitioners to create tailored strategies for your child. We work with you to create SMART goals that will help guide group sessions included in the 10 week program. This will be the strategies that guides our LEGO® Club Masters in creating weekly sessions and provide ongoing feedback on progress to achieveing your child's goals.

 

What is it?

Crystel Care's LEGO® Club is a small group program designed to work towards individually determined goals identified by participants representatives.

Individualised strategies will be implemented by our LEGO® Master, based on the report and program written from a multi-disciplinary perspective with input from a Crystel Care's Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists and Behaviour Support Practitioners.

Once the report is finalised the LEGO® Club Master will facilitate the program in a group setting, supporting the participants to develop key goals through the strategies individually designed for them.

The program will be implemented by information gathered by Crystel Care's Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists and a Behaviour Support Practitioners to ensure that it is tailored to meet individual goals.

 

What’s included?

Each participant will have a comprehensive report developed, followed by entry into the 10 week program that features a 1 hour face to face session each week. Using LEGO® bricks as the medium, LEGO® Masters will utilise strength-based strategies to help guide children in achieving their goals. Progress and feedback will be tracked through our Feedback Form and anecdotal notes. These will be kept on file and made accessible for your records to ensure all members of the team are on the same page with the progress of the program.

 

What will it cost?

The comprehensive report itself will take 8hrs ($1551.92). This can be funded through Improved Daily Living, Core or Individual Social Skills Development (Improved Relationships). Following this, 2 hours will be utilised ($387.98) for ongoing therapists input to ensure we have a comprehensive therapy analysis, time to evaluate and extend or change these strategies as required. This ensures the program is relevant and dynamic by reviewing progress and modifying the program to ensure it is participant centered. The group sessions will run in school terms after school times and cost $17 per session.

 

What can LEGO® Club help you achieve?

Crystel Care's LEGO® Club is specifically designed to support participants to overcome individual challenges and achieve their goals.

LEGO® Club can help participants to:

  • Develop problem solving skills
  • Increase social skills
  • Increase capacity to share and take turns
  • Develop perspective taking
  • Increase emotional regulation
  • Develop negotiation skills with peers
  • Improve group based language skills, ie. requests, descriptions, etc.
  • Improve fine motor skills
  • Develop concentration
  • Develop and increase play skills

Social skills that are strengthened through LEGO Club are:

  • Communicating with others
  • Expressing feelings
  • Changing behaviour to adjust to a situation
  • Problem solving skills
  • Relating to the world around them

Physical skills that are strengthened through LEGO® Club are:

  • Grip
  • Fine motor skills development and manipulation
  • Sitting posture
  • Proprioceptive input from the fingers (the ability to sense your hands and their movement without looking at them)
 

How does the report process run?

Initial assessment:

  1. Behaviour Support Practitoner interview and intake to assess key goals and outcomes - 1 hour
  2. interview and initial write up of participant key information and goals - 2 hours
  3. Occupational Therapy interview, review of information and  written recommendations - 90 minutes
  4. Speech Therapy interview, review of information and  written recommendations - 90 minutes
  5. Behaviour Support Practitioner final write up to incorporate recommendations and set goals to be presented to the LEGO® Master - 2 hours
 

Re-enrol for another term

What happens if they would like to re-enrol for a second, third or more term?

  1. The Behaviour Support Practitioner will review the current program with parent/carer and make any recommended changes - 2 hours
  2. The Behaviour Support Practitioner will collaborate with the Occupational Therapist and Speech Pathologist to review the participants program, changes of strategies, extension of strategies - 1.5 hours
  3. The Behaviour Support Practitioner will finalise and present the new program - 1.5 hours
  4. 5 hrs total work ($872.95)

Reporting Work is Telehealth - travel half hour extra per discipline require to travel.
LEGO® Club sessions are a Face to Face Social program.

 

Research backing

Playing with LEGO® bricks has been scientifically proven to improve a wide array of skill sets for children, and LEGO® bricks are one of the best toys to improve fine motor skills.

Regular play sessions with LEGO® bricks can significantly improve challenges faced by children who deal with any of the following conditions:

 

Research support

Play therapy has emerged as an invaluable intervention for children with diverse needs, particularly those supported by NDIS funding. Research findings highlighted in Nursanaa and Ady's (2020) study, presented at the 5th ASEAN Conference on Psychology, Counselling, and Humanities, place emphasis on the efficacy of play therapy in addressing anxiety disorders among children. This therapeutic approach allows children to express their feelings and thoughts in a non-threatening environment, promoting emotional regulation and resilience.

Hillman's (2018) literature review accentuates the role of child-centered play therapy as an intervention method for children with autism. This approach fosters a safe space for children with autism to explore and communicate their emotions, enhancing their social skills and emotional understanding. Schottelkorb, Swan, and Ogawa's (2020) pilot study further supports this notion, suggesting that intensive child-centered play therapy specifically tailored for children on the autism spectrum could be instrumental in addressing their unique needs.

Moreover, Parker, Hunnicutt Hollenbaugh, and Kelly's (2021) meta-analysis underscores the impact of child-centered play therapy on children exhibiting behavioral problems. This approach, integrating techniques from cognitive-behavioral play therapy (Knell, 2015) and innovative methodologies such as LEGO SERIOUS PLAY (Peabody, 2015), equips therapists with versatile tools to engage children effectively. Embracing a neurodiversity perspective as advocated by Armstrong (2012), play therapy within the NDIS framework celebrates individual strengths and personalised interventions that align with the unique needs of each child, fostering their success both in school and in life. Overall, integrating play therapy into NDIS-funded interventions provides a versatile and impactful tool for addressing various challenges faced by children, promoting emotional well-being, social skills development, and behavioural management.

 

Research references

Nursanaa, W. O., & Ady, I. N. C. (2020, January). Play therapy for children with anxiety disorders. In 5th ASEAN Conference on Psychology, Counselling, and Humanities (ACPCH 2019) (pp. 81-86). Atlantis Press.

Hillman, H. (2018). Child-centered play therapy as an intervention for children with autism: A literature review. International Journal of Play Therapy, 27(4), 198.

Parker, M. M., Hunnicutt Hollenbaugh, K. M., & Kelly, C. T. (2021). Exploring the impact of child-centered play therapy for children exhibiting behavioral problems: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Play Therapy, 30(4), 259.

Schottelkorb, A. A., Swan, K. L., & Ogawa, Y. (2020). Intensive child‐centered play therapy for children on the autism spectrum: A pilot study. Journal of counseling & development, 98(1), 63-73.

Knell, S. M. (2015). Cognitive‐behavioral play therapy. Handbook of play therapy, 119-133.

Peabody, M. A. (2015). Building with purpose: Using LEGO SERIOUS PLAY in play therapy supervision. International journal of play therapy, 24(1), 30.

Armstrong, T. (2012). Neurodiversity in the classroom: Strength-based strategies to help students with special needs succeed in school and life. ASCD.

 

Referrals

To enable the Crystel Care team to prepare and to ensure to provide an amazing experience, please complete the Crystel Care LEGO® Club Intake Form and Referral Form with as much information as possible, and send to tracey@crystelcare.com.au

 

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