Idea
Bricks for Autism aims to provide high quality training, information and resources about LEGO®-based therapy.
LEGO®-based therapy is a social skills intervention for children with autism or other social communication difficulties. Bricks for Autism hopes to provide the gold-standard in training for professionals and parents in order to increase the accessibility of LEGO®-based therapy for children who might benefit from this approach.
They also want to encourage further research into the effectiveness of this intervention to find out who it works for and in what contexts. Bricks for Autism currently runs face-to-face training courses for professionals, and hopes to expand their reach to include parents, webinars, online training and resources.
People
Bricks for Autism is headed up by Dr Gina Gomez de la Cuesta, a Clinical Psychologist from Cambridge.
Gina evaluated the effectiveness of LEGO®-based therapy for her PhD at the Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge. She has since co-authored the LEGO®-based therapy manual and runs Bricks for Autism training courses whilst working as a clinician and bringing up her two children.
Gina’s friend and colleague Lizzie Duckworth gives marketing and administrative support.
They also work closely with:
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, the Director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge
Dr Elinor Brett, an Educational Psychologist who runs LEGO®-based therapy training
Dr Dan LeGoff the original pioneer of LEGO®-based therapy
Dr GW Krauss, co-authors of the LEGO®-based therapy manual.
Gina is also developing links with the Autism Research Trust and the LEGO® Foundation.
Impact
The mission of Bricks for Autism is to make high quality LEGO®-based therapy available to children who struggle with social communication through training, resources and research.
One in a hundred children are affected by autism. Many more struggle with social communication for other reasons. LEGO®-based therapy can support children with social skills, improving their self-esteem and connection with others. By doing this, negative long-term outcomes such as social isolation and mental health problems are reduced.
With the right training and resources, LEGO-based therapy can easily be implemented in schools, clinics, communities and homes so has potential to improve the lives of many vulnerable children. Part of Bricks for Autism’s mission is also to stimulate further research into the effectiveness of LEGO®-based therapy so that we know who it helps and in what circumstances.
Lead entrepreneur
Dr Gina Gomez de la Cuesta
Get in touch
Gina would be delighted to hear from individuals who are interested in helping to expand the reach of Bricks for Autism. She is in search of financial investment and a person with operational business experience who has the skills and passion to take LEGO®-based therapy worldwide.
Tel: +44 (0)7739 396288
playincluded.com
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