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As a Behaviour Support Practitioner, I had the opportunity to try these magnetic building blocks with a child with Level 3 ASD, and I was genuinely interested to see how they would respond to an activity that requires attention, imitation and following instructions.
What I liked most was that the activity gave me an opportunity to observe the child’s engagement in a different way. The magnetic connection makes the blocks easy and satisfying to put together, which helped create some motivation to continue with the activity. Even small moments of reaching for a piece, watching the demonstration, attempting to copy, or remaining engaged for a little longer were useful from a behavioural perspective.
I also found that the blocks can be adapted depending on the child's abilities. Rather than expecting the child to complete the full construction independently, I could use prompting, modelling and gradual assistance to make the activity achievable. This makes it useful for working on attention, task engagement, imitation, choice-making, fine motor skills and tolerance of structured activities.
### Pros:
• Very engaging and hands-on
• Magnetic pieces make construction easier for children who struggle with more complicated building toys
• Can be used for one-to-one intervention
• Good opportunity to practise following simple instructions
• Can support fine motor and visual-spatial skills
• Allows practitioners to use prompting and gradually encourage independence
• Once the child understands the concept, there is potential for spontaneous and creative play
• Easy to make the activity more or less challenging depending on the child's current skills
### Cons:
• It won't be suitable for every child with Level 3 ASD, particularly children who have significant sensory sensitivities or very limited attention
• Some children may need substantial adult prompting rather than being able to follow the instructions independently
• The audio component may not work well for children who have difficulty processing verbal information, so visual demonstration may be necessary
• The pieces need to be carefully supervised with children who have mouthing behaviours or PICA
• For children with a very short attention span, the activity may need to be introduced in very small steps rather than expecting them to complete a whole structure
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how many opportunities this simple activity created from a behaviour support perspective. I wouldn't consider it a "one-size-fits-all" resource, but with the right level of support and individualisation, I can see it being a useful tool for building engagement and working towards small but meaningful skills.
For me, the biggest value wasn't whether the child could build the structure perfectly — it was the opportunity to use the activity to encourage engagement, communication, imitation, persistence and increasing independence.