The building blocks of social interaction apparently are … building blocks. Lego’s to be precise. Besides providing hours of entertainment and diversion for children, this old school toy, consisting of multi-colored plastic pieces, has also been effective at cultivating the social skills of autistic children and diminishing the phobias of young kids. It also cooks, cleans, and pays the bills. Just kidding.

But seriously, the humble Lego has gained some popularity among those who work with autistic children. At the Center for Neurological and Neurodevelopmental Health, on the outskirts of Philadelphia, for instance, Dr. Dan Legoff (pure coincidence) groups autistic children together as part of his “Lego-based Social Development Therapy.” Each child in the group is given a role and a task that depends upon the approval and collaboration of other group members. The job of builder, supplier, or engineer, for example, not only draws from typically autistic preoccupations with mechanical systems, hierarchies, and taxonomy, but forces them to talk and work with one another. Check out the March cover story in ASBJ for more about the bewildering and growing diagnosis of autism.

And finally, the Denmark-manufactured toy gained top honors as a robot that aims to help kids overcome their fears. At a robotics competition in Amsterdam this month, students from the University of Amsterdam nabbed first place with their “Phobot.” Built entirely of Legos and electronic software, the machine expresses fear (at the competition it was of a larger robot) and then attempts to conquer its fear by befriending smaller robots, before moving on to larger and larger robots--- which in psychological terms, is referred to as “graded exposure.”

Lest you think, Legos are only for kids, the toy has also been employed by consulting businesses and management groups, where they, for instance, “build metaphors of their organizational identities and experiences.” Yeah, I think I’ll leave the Lego blocks for the kids.

Naomi Dillon, Senior Editor