The Effectiveness of Lego Therapy on the Social Skills of Preschool Children with Hearing Loss

Document Type : Original Articles

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Education of Children with Special Needs, School of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

2 MSc Student, Department of Psychology and Education of Children with Special Needs, School of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

10.22122/jrrs.v14i2.3175

Abstract

Introduction: Lego therapy is one of the interventional programs shown to encourage significant improvement in the social skills of children with hearing loss. The purpose of this study was to investigate of the effectiveness of Lego therapy on the social skills of preschool children with hearing loss in Isfahan City, Iran.Materials and Methods: The present research was a semi-experimental study with pretest/posttest design and control group. The participants were 24 preschool children with hearing loss aged 4-6 years. Subjects were selected using convenient sampling method from Ava mother child rehabilitation center. They were divided into experimental and control groups (n = 12). The experimental group received Lego therapy program in 8 sessions (45 minutes per session), while control group did not participated in this type program. Data gathering tool was Matson Social Skills Questionnaire. Data were collected before and after the training sessions, and were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).Results: Lego therapy had a significant effect on social skills and all subscales (appropriate social behavior, asocial behavior, aggressive and impulsive behavior, superiority and self-confidence, and communication with peers) in the experimental group (P < 0.001).Conclusion: Lego therapy improved the social skills of preschool children with hearing loss. In fact, Lego therapy uses play to develop social skills via creating opportunities to make relationships with others.

Keywords

  1. Lawyer G. Deaf education and deaf culture: Lessons from Latin America." Am Ann Deaf 2018; 162(5): 486-8.
  2. Movallali G, Ashouri M, Jalil-Abkenar SS, Salehy Z. Effect of life skills training on social skills of hearing impaired students. IOSR-JRME 2014; 4(5): 28-34.
  3. Kirk SA, Gallagher J, Coleman MR. Educating exceptional children. 14th ed. Australia: Cengage; 2015. p. 364.
  4. Zaidman-Zait A, Most T, Tarrasch R, Haddad-eid E, Brand D. The impact of childhood hearing loss on the family: Mothers' and fathers' stress and coping resources. J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ 2016; 21(1): 23-33.
  5. Jalil-Abkenar S S, Ashori M, Pourmohamadreza-Tajrishi M, Hasanzadeh S. Auditory perception and verbal intelligibility in children with cochlear implant, hearing aids and normal hearing. Practice in Clinical Psychology 2013; 1(3): 141-7. [In Persian].
  6. Ashori M, Jalil-Abkenar SS. Students with special needs and inclusive education. 1st ed. Tehran, Iran: Roshd-e Farhang Publications; 2016. p. 429. [In Persian].
  7. Behroz-Sarcheshmeh S, Karimi M, Mahmoudi F, Shaghaghi P, Jalil-Abkenar SS. Effect of Training of life skills on social skills of high school students with intellectual disabilities. Practice in Clinical Psychology 2017; 5(3): 177-86. [In Persian].
  8. Jalil-Abkenar SS, A'shouri M, Afrouz G A. The effect of social behaviors training on improvement of the social skills of adolescents with intellectual disability. J Rehab 2013; 14(3): 31-40. [In Persian].
  9. OHandley RD, Radley KC, Lum JDK. Promoting social communication in a child with specific language impairment. Commun Disord Q 2015; 37(4): 199-210.
  10. Gokce B, Ayse C. Psychological Adaptation, marital satisfaction, and academic self-efficacy of international students. Journal of International Students 2017; 7(3): 686-702.
  11. Owens G, Granader Y, Humphrey A, Baron-Cohen S. LEGO therapy and the social use of language programme: An evaluation of two social skills interventions for children with high functioning autism and Asperger Syndrome. J Autism Dev Disord 2008; 38(10): 1944-57.
  12. LeGoff DB. Use of LEGO as a therapeutic medium for improving social competence. J Autism Dev Disord 2004; 34(5): 557-71.
  13. Pouretemad HR, Tazakareh Tavasoli S, Shiri E, Bani Jamal SS. Evaluation of effectiveness of LEGO therapy in social Skills Improvement for children with high functioning autism. Journal of Applied Psychology 2017; 11(2): 195-214. [In Persian].
  14. Akbari S, Rajab Boloukat M. The effect of LEGO education on social skills and creativity among deaf children with Cochlear implants. Innovation and Creativity in Human Sciences 2017; 7(1): 101-24.
  15. Lindsay S, Hounsell KG, Cassiani C. A scoping review of the role of LEGO((R)) therapy for improving inclusion and social skills among children and youth with autism. Disabil Health J 2017; 10(2): 173-82.
  16. Peckett H, MacCallum F, Knibbs J. Maternal experience of Lego Therapy in families with children with autism spectrum conditions: What is the impact on family relationships? Autism 2016; 20(7): 879-87.
  17. Hoshina A, Horie R, Giannopulu I, Sugaya M. Measurement of the effect of digital play therapy using biological information. Procedia Comput Sci 2017; 112: 1570-9.
  18. Abdollahi Baqrabadi G. Effectiveness of Lego therapy on social skills in children with Autism. Rooyesh-e Ravanshenasi 2016; 5(3): 153-64. [In Persian].
  19. LeGoff DB, Sherman M. Long-term outcome of social skills intervention based on interactive LEGO play. Autism 2006; 10(4): 317-29.
  20. Ashori M, Yazdanipour M. Investigation of the effictiveness of group play therapy training with cognitive-behavioral approach on the social skills of students with intellectual disability. J Rehab 2018; 19(3): 262-75. [In Persian]
  21. Astramovich RL, Lyons CHamilton. Play Therapy for children with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Child and Adolescent Counseling 2015; 1(1): 27-36.
  22. Matson JL, Ollendick TH. Psychology practitioner guidebooks. Enhancing children's social skills: Assessment and training. New York, NY: Pergamon Press; 1988.
  23. Yousefi F, Khayer M. A study on the reliability and the validity of the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngstres (MESSY) and sex differences in social skills of high school students In Shiraz, Iran. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities of Shiraz University 2002; 18(2): 147-58. [In Persian].
  24. Shin HY, Hwang HJ. Mental health of the people with hearing impairment in Korea: A population-based cross-sectional study. Korean J Fam Med 2017; 38(2): 57-63.
  25. Pourmohamadreza Tajrishi M, Ashouri M, Afrooz GA, Arjmandnia AA, Ghobari Bonab B. The effectiveness of positive parenting program (Triple-P) Training on interaction of mother-child with intellectual disability. J Rehab 2015; 16(2): 128-36. [In Persian].
  26. Costa S, Soares F, Santos C, Pereira AP, Moreira F. Lego Robots and autism spectrum disorder: A potential partnership? R Est Inv Psico y Educ 2016; 3(1): 50-8.
  27. Huskens B, Palmen A, Van der Werff M, Lourens T, Barakova E. Improving collaborative play between children with autism spectrum disorders and their siblings: The effectiveness of a robot-mediated intervention based on Lego (R) Therapy. J Autism Dev Disord 2015; 45(11): 3746-55.