LEGO® Play - Social and Emotional Wellbeing with Dr Gina Gómez de la Cuesta

Do you have a LEGO® or brick building club in your setting? All children need opportunities to play, make friends and feel accepted. Autistic and neurodivergent children can experience high levels of exclusion and may not have access to the same opportunities to socialise in ways that are supportive and accepting. It has never been more important to actively support them with their social, emotional and communication needs. Dr Gina Gómez de la Cuesta, Clinical Psychologist and Director of Play Included, joins Dale for the first time on The SENDcast to talk about ‘LEGO® play - social and emotional wellbeing’. Gina highlights the importance of learning through play, following a child-led approach and the ways in which the Brick-by-Brick® programme positively impacts the development of children’s social and communication skills and their emotional wellbeing. Listen to hear how LEGO® play supports children to communicate, collaborate and connect. Gina also takes us through what running a brick club looks like, from what the role of the adult/teacher is in facilitating the sessions, to the top 5 things you should and shouldn’t be doing. About Dr Gina Gómez de la Cuesta Gina is a Clinical Psychologist and founded Play Included® (formerly Bricks for Autism) in 2018. Gina studied LEGO® based therapy for her PhD at Cambridge University Autism Research Centre and is co-author of the LEGO based therapy manual. Gina has published several academic papers on LEGO based therapy, including the I-SOCIALISE randomised control trial. Play Included’s Brick-by-Brick® programme is the latest update to LEGO based therapy and the only programme of its kind to be endorsed by the LEGO Foundation. Contact Dr Gina Gómez de la Cuesta Website – playincluded.com/ Twitter - @GinaGDLC @playincluded Facebook – facebook.com/playincluded   B Squared Website – www.bsquared.co.uk Meeting with Dale to find out about B Squared - https://calendly.com/b-squared-team/overview-of-b-squared-sendcast Email Dale – [email protected] Subscribe to the SENDcast - https://www.thesendcast.com/subscribe