Aims: To evaluate if Lego Therapy helps autistic children to socialise and communicate.

Background: Autistic children may be naturally attracted and motivated by systems of one kind or an other. LEGO is a highly systematic toy that appears intrinsically rewarding to autistic children.

Method: We conducted clinical trials comparing autistic children who received LEGO Therapy with those who did not.

Results: An earlier project confirmed that LEGO Therapy leads to improvement in social skills. Our work evaluating Lego Therapy has recently been summarized in a manual called “Lego Therapy: How to Build Social Competence Through Lego Clubs for Children with Autism and Related Conditions” by Daniel LeGoff, Gina Gomez de la Cuesta, GW Krauss, and Simon Baron-Cohen, published by Jessica Kingsley Ltd (www.jkp.com).

Importance: This is important as one example of a clinical intervention that many autistic children enjoy, and they learn social skills from it without realising they are.

Relevance: To parents, clinicians and developmental psychologists.

Funding: The Autism Research Trust