Abstract
This study investigated the effectiveness on social skills development of an educational intervention program for schoolchildren with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using an educational robot. Over the period of a month, four boys with ASD, ranging in age from 7 to 14 years, participated in structured educational scenarios involving the robot “Edison”, which is in the form of a toy car, with the aid of a teacher/researcher. The behavior of the four boys during the sessions was recorded by an observer, using an observation form. The boys appeared to enjoy the intervention sessions, and a positive outcome was observed following interaction with the robot. Specifically, by the end of the month of intervention, all the boys showed improvement in social skills and cooperation skills and a reduction in untoward social behaviors. They showed an increase in eye contact, followed instructions and appeared to understand the social rules better, and in general their interaction with the teacher and with each other was enhanced. In conclusion, teachers can use robots in programs aimed at improving the social and communication skills of schoolchildren with ASD.
Highlights
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience significant difficulties in their social interaction
In each session the children practiced their social interaction and showed greater willingness to cooperate and to follow with focused attention the instructions given by the educational robot
The goal was to determine whether robots can aid children with ASD to practice their social skills, to improve their social interaction, to follow instructions and observe the rules of an activity, to eek the goal, and, generally, to accommodate multiple stimuli, just as they have to cope with in everyday life. According to their improvement of social skills, this study showed that the schoolchildren with ASD participated with greater willingness in the intervention with the educational robot than with the teacher
Summary
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience significant difficulties in their social interaction. Deficiency in social behavior is one of the main indicators of ASD. Individuals with ASD may present repetitive behavior, limited interests with fixation on a restricted number of specific activities or objects, and a variety of non-socially acceptable behaviors. A wide diversity of symptoms and different types of deficiencies in children with ASD may impede their development of relationships with other people, and difficulties in socialization constitute a common theme in ASD. The second section describes the implementation of information communication technology (ICT) and educational robots in interventions with people with ASD. The final section presents a case study of an intervention program, the main objective of which was to determine the outcome of educational intervention with a teacher and with a robot, for improving social skills in children with ASD
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