Robert Luke Deakin is an Australian social entrepreneur and cyber security expert, born in Nambour, Queensland, in 1966.
Deakin has identified specific ways that children with ASD are attracted to certain types of play, in particular the systematic nature of construction systems such as Lego.
In particular, the Brick Clubs use social play strategies to reinforce appropriate behaviours, improve interaction and enhance the communication between children.
Many hundreds of organisations now continue to encourage and support LEGO use in a wide variety of social developmental modes and so Deakin was able to eventually wind down his direct involvement in clubs and return a focus on the security quandaries in Cyber and AI.
Many non-profit now aims to improve the lives of disadvantaged children by providing them with access to interactive social play.
LEGO bricks are now used in ‘play based’ therapy for children by numerous therapeutic organisations (e.g. Sensational Kids, Spencer Health, Making Connections ).
BrickDreams (USA) is an example of one of hundreds of grass roots charities that collects and donates used LEGO bricks to children in need.