LEGO Foundation

So you're bringing together things like spatial reasoning, working memory, planning, problem solving, and cognitive flexibility.

One phrase I really like from the Learning Through Play research by the Lego Foundation is that children can be both hands-on and minds-on.

The hands are manipulating the bricks, but the brain is actively thinking, predicting, testing, and adjusting at the same time.

I would be cautious about saying the Lego itself changes a particular part of the brain.

So there I was with those pillowcases.

Um, and if you told me they would go on to define my working life and win awards, partner with the Lego Foundation, be studied by Goldsmiths University, I probably would have asked you what you'd taken and if I could have had any of it [chuckles].

Um, but I listened to what the children and the teachers were telling me.

I adapted, and I made it up as I went along.

And she's very public about what she uses for herself, by the way, to manage her own emotions in her own situation.

She was in our first batch and she has a partnership with the Lego Foundation that have given her, you know, at least a couple million in non-dilutive capital and are backing her.

Okay, so, and they've helped her really amazingly improve her product.

And her product itself is for neurodivergent youth to build their own social skills and knowledge.

I feel like with the whanau that shared that story, they don't see the strength that they have.

Yeah, and I understand you've got backing for some of your work from the Lego Foundation.

Tell me about that.

Yeah, that was actually for my PhD.