Boy with Autism Builds Huge LEGO Replica of the Titanic

Autism is a unique condition, in which the person with autism experiences challenges in social skills, repetitive behaviours, speech, and/or non-verbal communication (source: AutismSpeaks.org). There are different ranges of autism, and they affect the child with autism albeit differently.

Average people may have a hard time communicating with autistic children, as the latter are attuned to gauge their personal space and will get overwhelmed when exposed to different environments. But with proper help from experts and nurturing by the family, autistic children can function well and grow up as normal adults.

Take a look at this boy from Iceland. Brynjar Karl Birgisson has autism but was able to accept and move past the challenges of his condition. He is known worldwide as the kid who was able to plan and build a huge replica of the Titanic using LEGO bricks.

People with autism tend to be hyper-obsessive; when they start on a task, they will not stop until they have completely finished the project. This is the reason why autistic children tend to have some unique but amazing talents. For Brynjar Karl, his gift is building awesome but hard-to-do LEGO models. He likes to talk about this gift on different media platforms as a way to motivate parents with autistic children. He calls this gift as the X-factor. He believes that everyone (autistic or not) has an X-factor. The thing is, some may not find their X-factor until later on in life.

An Autistic Prodigy

Brynjar Karl was 10 years old when he planned to build a replica of the Titanic – something many thought was impossible, especially for someone who has autism.

His family did not know he had autism until he was 5 years old after taking a lot of medical tests. They found out that he could learn faster with the aid of pictures than by just using words. With this knowledge, they were able to help him live “life in his fog” better, as what he described his surroundings were.

Karl has been labelled as the LEGO Boy because of his successful building of the largest LEGO replica of the Titanic. Before that, he had to study the history of the Titanic and his grandfather had to research for the original blueprints of the famed giant ship from history. They also had to dial the measurements down to make sure the LEGO Minifigures would be the same size as that of the average person.

With the original blueprints on their hands, Karl was able to determine how many LEGO bricks he would use to build the Titanic model – it was more than 56,000! It took him 11 months and 700 hours all in all to successfully finish this leviathan of a project, which measured 633 metres long.

Because of this feat, Brynjar Karl became an Internet sensation with his own YouTube channel, Facebook page, and website. He now uses his newly found fame to motivate people, particularly those with autism and parents who are raising autistic children.