The first rule of Lego Club is - you don't talk about Lego Club

Exciting times are coming at Wiltshire Towers. Last week, I was doing some doing some research to help The Boy's social skills. The Boy, as you know, is autistic. One of the characteristics of autism is what Professor Baron-Cohen - yes, he is related to that one - refers to as "social dyslexia" (an inability to recognise faces and social situations rather than letters and words), so anything that can develop his socialisation skills is welcomed and applied to the best of my limited abilities.

In the past, we have used "The Transporters" (blog post to follow) to assist The Boy in developing the theory of mind deficits are incumbent with the disability. We have also, due to the refusal of the school he attends to do so, developed a "Circle of Friends" outside of school hours with his sympathetic neurotypical friends.

Naturally, we have accrued hours and hours of painstakingly executed turn taking games (with the accompanying painful slaps and kicks that can accompany the admonishment of "No, it's Mummy's turn" a process we still engage in), as well as football training (he practices his goal keeping at said training lessons, often when he has been placed in a midfield position), he is about to start swimming lessons (he took some persuasion), and, following his love of the bouncy castle purchased for the summer holiday, we have discussed trampolining lessons (though he remains unsure).

"Lego Club" (also known as "Lego Therapy") seems a logical step to take on our journey. The theory behind said therapy is to assist high functioning children communicate and problem solve. Working in pairs or groups of three (with one as the engineer, explaining the instructions, another as supplier locating the pieces required and one as the builder putting the pieces together), Lego constructions are built and, hopefully, communication skills are developed and improved. The roles of the children are swapped around, so each has the opportunity to play at each one.

So, armed with a box of Lego borrowed from the Toy Library, we have started our own experiment to see if this will assist The Boy. We tried it yesterday (substituting Mummy for one of the children), and today he has been extremely calm.

We will keep you updated. In the meantime, let me know about anything you are trying that you find has helped with your autistic child's socialisation skills.