Legos, 8 Foot Pirates and the Autism Connection

In case you didn't know it, my 4-year-old son, Ian, likes Legos. Lego-obsessed. Right now, the kitchen table is covered in a variety of Pirate and Star Wars Legos. His desk in my office has a Secret Agent Lego Base. His idea of fun? Taking three days to piece together an enormous Lego set and then saying, "Hey, let's take it apart and put it back together!" Riiiight.

I took Ian to the Lego store this afternoon, after reading that they were hosting an building event for an 8 foot Pirate made of Legos. We walked into the mob scene aka Lego Store and wandered for a bit, with Ian inquiring on the price of several expensive and rather large Lego sets.
Ian asked me to take several photos of Lego sets he wants on his birthday list. The entire photo collection is not posted, because no one really has time to see that many Lego sets.


A Star Wars Lego watch-surprisingly analog and not digital! Way to be educational, Lego Guys!

We then walked down to the Pirate building area, where several tables were set up with boxes of bricks, laminated directions and a roped-off area where the Pirate was in construction. The kids (many kids included Dads, by the way) had to build a rectangular brick to add to the body of the pirate.


Ian got right to work and finished in about five minutes. One of the Lego employees came over to watch and asked how old he was. He was impressed at his ability to read and complete the directions without assistance. The employee then said that he worked in one of our school districts helping children with autism. He said that kids with autism gravitate to the Legos and without realizing it, they are learning about geometry and a host of other skills while building. To this, I agreed. Legos are a toy that I don't think I really played with as a child (perhaps speaking to why I didn't excel in geometry?) and seeing my son, whom I find as brilliant as a star in the sky, complete Lego sets of hundreds of pieces with minimal assistance, I know that it probably does some heavy work in the brain.

At Toys R Us, I always see lists of toys for kids with autism. I say get the kid some Legos.

As Connor's birthday fast approaches-and I see Connor's interest in Legos beginning to peak-Ian chose a small set for his brother and chose a Star Wars set for himself. We inquired about the Lego store club, which meets on Saturday mornings to work on an exclusive set before the store opens-but the Lego employee said that he had to be six years old, so that he could sit for an hour and work on a set. I chuckled a bit and Ian placed his Star Wars ship on the counter to buy. She looked at me and said, "Is this for him?" I nodded. "Can he actually put this together?" I nodded again. She then said, "You know, I wish we had an exception to the age rule." I said that we understood and it wasn't a problem. Next year, he'll be six and we can enroll him for his 6th birthday.
Ahoy, matey!

Tom was impressed and it looks like he might want to take Ian again tomorrow to check out the pirate. Lego is going to appreciate the economic stimulus this weekend.