Abstract
1.1 Background: There is anecdotal evidence for the use of robots to facilitate prosocial behaviors such as joint attention and verbalization in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). However, there have been no normative data in typically developing children to evaluate the effects of robot-child interactions on social and communication skills. 1.2 Objectives: The aim of our study was to evaluate the changes in social attention and verbalization skills of 15 typically developing (TD) children using a structured 8-session imitation protocol within a robot-adult-child context. We further extended this imitation protocol to two children with ASDs. 1.3 Methods: Pretest, session1, session 4, session 8, and posttest sessions were coded for attention patterns and the duration of verbalization of the children. 1.4 Results: TD children directed maximum attention towards the robot during training; however, they were bored with the limited repertoire of the robot over time. The training context also facilitated spontaneous verbalization between the child and the trainer. The context of robot-child interactions also afforded social attention and spontaneous verbalization in both children with ASDs. 1.5 Conclusions: Our findings suggest that robot-child interactions may be an enjoyable context for TD children as well as children with ASDs. Our future studies will rigorously examine the use of engaging, robot-child interaction contexts for facilitating social communication skills in children with ASDs.
Highlights
In recent years, robots have been used in a variety of rehabilitation contexts
Our findings suggest that robot-child interactions may be an enjoyable context for typically developing (TD) children, as well as children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)
Similar to the findings in the above mentioned studies, we found that TD children and the HF child with ASD engaged in spontaneous conversations with the trainer about topics pertaining to the robot, such as the robot’s appearance, motoric capabilities and its vocalizations
Summary
Robots have been used in a variety of rehabilitation contexts. The field of socially assistive robotics uses various robots to assist special populations through social interactions that do not involve physical contact [1]. The overall goal of this study was to address these limitations in the literature by examining the effects of a structured, 8-session protocol of robot-adult-child interactions on the social attention and verbalization patterns of 15 typically developing [TD] children. We further extended this protocol to two children with ASDs. We further extended this protocol to two children with ASDs These data have served as a foundation for an ongoing rigorous randomized controlled trial examining the effects of robot-child interactions in children with ASDs. There is anecdotal evidence for the use of robots to facilitate prosocial behaviors such as joint attention and verbalization in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). There have been no normative data in typically developing children to evaluate the effects of robot-child interactions on social and communication skills
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