Aspergers and LEGOs
The Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge recently released a fascinating paper on LEGO therapy. You read that correctly: LEGO therapy! Awesome! The study involved 6-11 year olds with either high functioning autism and/or Asperger Syndrome. [1]
I am suddenly reminded of my own awkward social skills as a child and how amazing it would have been to actually receive therapy involving LEGOs rather than punishment for not paying attention to anything except LEGOs.
LEGOs are like crack if you have Aspergers. On one hand it can be an amazing tool to motivate social interactions and develop spatial reasoning. On the other hand, it’s kind of a cruel joke taking an obsessive detail-oriented ‘perger and putting them in front of LEGOs– a narrow area of interest to focus on without any required speaking or physical dexterity. To this day I continually resist the urge to quit my job and focus full-time on LEGOs.
I never considered the social implications of LEGOs; 90% of my LEGO experience was solitary and became a coping mechanism to deal with the depression from not having any friends. There were however several friends I made who shared my passion for LEGOs — it’s possible that those were crucial moments helping me to overcome my social anxieties.
References
1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18566882