Building relationships idea behind group
The first rule of Lego club is to make friends.
Next month, the Learning Disabilities Association of Saskatchewan (LDAS) is launching the Lego club, which is a play therapy group for kids who struggle with social skills and need a little extra help.
Devon Kwasnicia, program facilitator, said this is the first time such a program will be available in Regina.
“There are other Lego clubs and Lego camps in Regina, but they are not really of the same variety or have the same focus on the socials skills, they are more so just for fun,” she said.
As a fourth-year education student with a minor in special education, Kwasnicia knows how important it is to have these types of programs available for children.
“They have been running it in Saskatoon for a couple of years now and they have had a lot of success with it,” she said. “We wanted to get it up and running in Regina. It will be the only one of its kind going on in the city.”
The club is based on playing with Lego and is for children between the ages of eight and 13.
“A lot of the time we get a lot of boys because they really like Lego, but it’s for boys and girls,” said Kwasnicia. “The idea of the program is to develop social skills, so it’s really aimed at kids who have trouble making friends, relating to their peers, starting conversation or communicating appropriately.”
As a way to help develop those skill sets, the Lego club will focus on team building with group activities.
The club is accepting six kids for the 11-week pilot program, which begins the first week in February.
“We only take six because the kids we meet require a lot of attention and we never want anyone to get left behind,” said Kwasnicia. “In the group of three one of the jobs is to read the instructions and explain them to the other two and one will find the Lego pieces they need in the kit and the other child will put the pieces together.”
Kwasnicia and a partner will break the kids into two groups of three in order to give the participants the attention they need throughout the program. For an hour a week the two groups will work with Lego building and learning.
“We really work on working well with others, in teams and self regulation to improve on their social skills,” she said.
Each group will determine the rules for the club, so the kids can express what they want and what is expected.
The program is still in the registration phase.
“There are a couple of spots left for this session, but because this session is only our pilot project we are only running one session,” she said. “If we got more interest, then we might run more than one.”
Kwasnicia is looking forward to the start of the program because she’s anxious to put her newly acquired skills into action. There are only two people in Canada certified to train others in Lego therapy, one of which is located in Saskatoon.
Kwasnicia received her training in September and was able to observe how Lego clubs work while she was training.
To register or find out more information call the LDAS Regina branch at 306790-8452 or email ldas.regina@sasktel.com.