Improving Executive Functions at School in Children With Special Needs by Educational Robotics.

Maria Chiara Di Lieto,Emanuela Castro,Giovanni Cioni,Giuseppina Sgandurra,Chiara Pecini,Francesca Cecchi,Paolo Dario,Emanuela Inguaggiato

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02813

Abstract

Children with Special Needs represent a highly heterogeneous group in terms of neurofunctional, behavioral, and socio-cognitive characteristics, but they have in common a frequent impairment of Executive Functions. Educational Robotics is generally dedicated to study the effects of constructing and programming robots based on children’s learning and academic achievement. Recently, we found that being engaged in progressively more challenging robot planning and monitoring (ER-Lab) promotes visual–spatial working memory and response inhibition in early childhood during typical development, and that an ER-Lab can be a feasible rehabilitative tool for children with Special Needs. The present study aimed to verify the efficacy of the ER-Lab on Executive Functions in children with Special Needs for the first time by using an RCT within their school environment. To pursue these aims, this study reports the results obtained in 42 first-grade children with Special Needs engaged in school Educational Robotics Laboratories (ER-Lab) to promote Executive Functions by means of enjoyable, intensive, and incrementally more challenging activities requiring them to program a bee-shaped robot called Bee-bot® (Campus Store). Several adaptations were done to meet different motor, cognitive, and social needs. All children were evaluated by means of standardized tests performed by each child before and at the end of the ER-Lab activities. Children with Special Needs had significantly improved inhibition skills, and children with attentional impairment had more benefits in their inhibition of motor responses tasks with respect to children with a language deficit. Results of the study and future perspectives on how ER-Lab programs could become a powerful tool in classrooms with children with special needs are discussed.

Highlights

Children with Special Needs (SN) require exceptional educational and teaching strategies because of social, physical, or mental problems
Executive Functions (EFs) have been found to be frequently altered in children with socio-economic disadvantages (Noble et al, 2007), Mood Disorders (Vilgis et al, 2015), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (Castellanos et al, 2006), Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (Pellicano, 2012; Margari et al, 2016), Language and Learning Disabilities (Moll et al, 2014; Kapa and Plante, 2015; Peng and Fuchs, 2016), Down Syndrome (DS) (Lott and Dierssen, 2010; Lanfranchi et al, 2015), neuromuscular disorders (Astrea et al, 2016; Battini et al, 2018), and Cerebral Palsy (CP) (Pirila et al, 2011; Di Lieto et al, 2017a)
The results showed that the children who participated in the Educational Robotics (ER) activities improved visual–motor performances more than children following the traditional curriculum

Summary

Introduction

Children with Special Needs (SN) require exceptional educational and teaching strategies because of social, physical, or mental problems They represent a highly heterogeneous group in terms of neurofunctional, behavioral, and socio-cognitive features. Educational Robotics for Special Needs neurodevelopmental disorders, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Specific Learning Disorders, Specific Language Disorders, or other unspecified difficulties (McFarland et al, 2018; MIUR – Ufficio Statistica e Studi, 2018). Despite this variability, it is nowadays well accepted that specific processes for cognitive control, such as Executive Functions (EFs), are frequently impaired across different developmental disorders and special needs (Pennington and Ozonoff, 1996). The casual relationship between EF impairment and Special Needs is far from linear as three main scenarios may be suggested: in some circumstances, a clear EF deficit is a part of the “core cognitive difficulties” of a certain SN group; in other conditions, only subtle difficulties are found; it may be that it is the clinical or social problem itself that induces the EF impairment (Astrea et al, 2016)

Methods

Results

Conclusion