Lego Therapy Case Study

of the sessions familiar to put their client at ease. As discussed previously, impairment in social functioning causes difficulty in communication which is necessary in typical counseling interventions. According to Woods, Mahdavi, and Ryan (2013), Lego therapy, a type of play therapy, is highly effective in improving social skills between pairs or small groups of children aged 6-11. Legos are an appealing toy to children with ASD as they are a methodical and predictable toy that are easy to control. Therapists are also faced with the difficulty of ASD children regulating emotions and behavior, which is often a typical reason parents seek therapy for their child in the first place (Samson, Hardan, Lee, Phillips, & Gross, 2015). It is encouraging

Cognitive challenges also exist when counseling children with ASD as they have difficulty distinguishing their own mind from somebody else’s, this is known as theory of mind (Woods et al., 2013). Counselors should address deficiencies in theory of mind as the lack of knowledge in others feelings and empathy causes challenges across all social contexts for children. While there are a numerous factors to consider when providing therapy for children with ASD, therapeutic interventions are crucial to the development of social skills as well as adaptive emotional and behavioral responses in social settings.

Adolescence

Many of the challenges children on the spectrum face, continue to be areas of hardship during adolescence. The transition from childhood to adolescence is a vulnerable and challenging time for typically developing children, but even more so for those with ASD. Bullying and peer-victimization increases during adolescence for these children, as their lack of social skills and close friendships makes them easy targets. According to Fisher and Taylor (2015), out of thirty students with ASD they surveyed, 73 percent had experienced at least one

According to Hesselmark et al. (2013), the use of role play in CBT is helpful in increasing confidence and ability in daily tasks such as making phone calls and asking others for help. In addition, ASD adults have had positive outcomes participating in group recreational activity interventions, developing an increase in social skills, self-esteem, and overall wellbeing (Hesselmark, Plenty, & Bejerot, 2013). Group recreational activity interventions are especially helpful as they occur in real world settings rather than clinical settings, and incorporate interests of the group while assisting group members in forming positive