The Effects of Rhythm and Robotic Interventions on the Imitation/Praxis, Interpersonal Synchrony, and Motor Performance of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Sudha M Srinivasan,Kerry L Marsh,Maninderjit Kaur,Isabel K Park,Timothy D Gifford,Anjana N Bhat

doi:10.1155/2015/736516

Sudha M Srinivasan, Kerry L Marsh + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/736516

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Abstract

We assessed the effects of three interventions, rhythm, robotic, and standard-of-care, on the imitation/praxis, interpersonal synchrony, and overall motor performance of 36 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) between 5 and 12 years of age. Children were matched on age, level of functioning, and services received, prior to random assignment to one of the three groups. Training was provided for 8 weeks with 4 sessions provided each week. We assessed generalized changes in motor skills from the pretest to the posttest using a standardized test of motor performance, the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, 2nd edition (BOT-2). We also assessed training-specific changes in imitation/praxis and interpersonal synchrony during an early and a late session. Consistent with the training activities practiced, the rhythm and robot groups improved on the body coordination composite of the BOT-2, whereas the comparison group improved on the fine manual control composite of the BOT-2. All three groups demonstrated improvements in imitation/praxis. The rhythm and robot groups also showed improved interpersonal synchrony performance from the early to the late session. Overall, socially embedded movement-based contexts are valuable in promoting imitation/praxis, interpersonal synchrony, and motor performance and should be included within the standard-of-care treatment for children with ASD.

Highlights

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have persistent impairments in social communication skills including impaired initiation of social interactions, poor sharing of interests with social partners, impairments in verbal and nonverbal communication skills as well as repetitive and restricted interests including repetitive actions on objects, circumscribed interests, and stereotyped speech [1,2,3,4]
We explored the effects of two 8-week novel, movement-based rhythm and robotic interventions on the overall motor performance, imitation/praxis, and interpersonal synchrony skills of children with ASD
We address limitations in the current literature by extending our work to a larger sample of children with ASD and systematically examining the effects of a prolonged robotic intervention using a humanoid robot, Nao, on training-specific measures of imitation/praxis and interpersonal synchrony assessed within the training context, as well as overall motor performance assessed on a standardized test outside the training context

Summary

Introduction

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have persistent impairments in social communication skills including impaired initiation of social interactions, poor sharing of interests with social partners, impairments in verbal and nonverbal communication skills as well as repetitive and restricted interests including repetitive actions on objects, circumscribed interests, and stereotyped speech [1,2,3,4]. Between 50 and 100% of individuals with ASD have motor difficulties including incoordination during gross and fine motor activities, poor balance skills, and clumsy gait patterns [5,6,7,8,9,10]. They demonstrate impairments in motor imitation, praxis, and interpersonal synchrony [11,12,13,14,15]. Child asked to greet the trainer, model, and robot. Farewell Child asked to bid goodbye to the trainer, model, and robot. Arts and crafts (i) Child makes creations by drawing, coloring, cutting, and so forth (ii) Theme: make a vegetable basket

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