Collaborative Research Project: Developing and Testing a Robot-Assisted Intervention for Children With Autism

The present work is a collaborative research aimed at testing the effectiveness of the robot-assisted intervention administered in real clinical settings by real educators. Social robots dedicated to assisting persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are rarely used in clinics. In a collaborative...

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Main Authors: Viviane Kostrubiec, Jeanne Kruck
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-03-01
Series:Frontiers in Robotics and AI
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frobt.2020.00037/full
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spelling doaj-45ab22a531a0438d957ac3ba1599415e2020-11-25T02:21:21ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Robotics and AI2296-91442020-03-01710.3389/frobt.2020.00037499682Collaborative Research Project: Developing and Testing a Robot-Assisted Intervention for Children With AutismViviane Kostrubiec0Viviane Kostrubiec1Jeanne Kruck2Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches en Psychopathologie et Psychologie de la Santé (CERPPS), Université de Toulouse, UT2J, Toulouse, FranceUniversité de Toulouse, UT3, Toulouse, FranceCentre d'Etudes et de Recherches en Psychopathologie et Psychologie de la Santé (CERPPS), Université de Toulouse, UT2J, Toulouse, FranceThe present work is a collaborative research aimed at testing the effectiveness of the robot-assisted intervention administered in real clinical settings by real educators. Social robots dedicated to assisting persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are rarely used in clinics. In a collaborative effort to bridge the gap between innovation in research and clinical practice, a team of engineers, clinicians and researchers working in the field of psychology developed and tested a robot-assisted educational intervention for children with low-functioning ASD (N = 20) A total of 14 lessons targeting requesting and turn-taking were elaborated, based on the Pivotal Training Method and principles of Applied Analysis of Behavior. Results showed that sensory rewards provided by the robot elicited more positive reactions than verbal praises from humans. The robot was of greatest benefit to children with a low level of disability. The educators were quite enthusiastic about children's progress in learning basic psychosocial skills from interactions with the robot. The robot nonetheless failed to act as a social mediator, as more prosocial behaviors were observed in the control condition, where instead of interacting with the robot children played with a ball. We discuss how to program robots to the distinct needs of individuals with ASD, how to harness robots' likability in order to enhance social skill learning, and how to arrive at a consensus about the standards of excellence that need to be met in interdisciplinary co-creation research. Our intuition is that robotic assistance, obviously judged as to be positive by educators, may contribute to the dissemination of innovative evidence-based practice for individuals with ASD.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frobt.2020.00037/fullsocial roboticssocial skillsevidence-based practicesrobot acceptanceapplied analysis of behavior
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Viviane Kostrubiec
Viviane Kostrubiec
Jeanne Kruck
spellingShingle Viviane Kostrubiec
Viviane Kostrubiec
Jeanne Kruck
Collaborative Research Project: Developing and Testing a Robot-Assisted Intervention for Children With Autism
Frontiers in Robotics and AI
social robotics
social skills
evidence-based practices
robot acceptance
applied analysis of behavior
author_facet Viviane Kostrubiec
Viviane Kostrubiec
Jeanne Kruck
author_sort Viviane Kostrubiec
title Collaborative Research Project: Developing and Testing a Robot-Assisted Intervention for Children With Autism
title_short Collaborative Research Project: Developing and Testing a Robot-Assisted Intervention for Children With Autism
title_full Collaborative Research Project: Developing and Testing a Robot-Assisted Intervention for Children With Autism
title_fullStr Collaborative Research Project: Developing and Testing a Robot-Assisted Intervention for Children With Autism
title_full_unstemmed Collaborative Research Project: Developing and Testing a Robot-Assisted Intervention for Children With Autism
title_sort collaborative research project: developing and testing a robot-assisted intervention for children with autism
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
series Frontiers in Robotics and AI
issn 2296-9144
publishDate 2020-03-01
description The present work is a collaborative research aimed at testing the effectiveness of the robot-assisted intervention administered in real clinical settings by real educators. Social robots dedicated to assisting persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are rarely used in clinics. In a collaborative effort to bridge the gap between innovation in research and clinical practice, a team of engineers, clinicians and researchers working in the field of psychology developed and tested a robot-assisted educational intervention for children with low-functioning ASD (N = 20) A total of 14 lessons targeting requesting and turn-taking were elaborated, based on the Pivotal Training Method and principles of Applied Analysis of Behavior. Results showed that sensory rewards provided by the robot elicited more positive reactions than verbal praises from humans. The robot was of greatest benefit to children with a low level of disability. The educators were quite enthusiastic about children's progress in learning basic psychosocial skills from interactions with the robot. The robot nonetheless failed to act as a social mediator, as more prosocial behaviors were observed in the control condition, where instead of interacting with the robot children played with a ball. We discuss how to program robots to the distinct needs of individuals with ASD, how to harness robots' likability in order to enhance social skill learning, and how to arrive at a consensus about the standards of excellence that need to be met in interdisciplinary co-creation research. Our intuition is that robotic assistance, obviously judged as to be positive by educators, may contribute to the dissemination of innovative evidence-based practice for individuals with ASD.
topic social robotics
social skills
evidence-based practices
robot acceptance
applied analysis of behavior
url https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frobt.2020.00037/full
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