Supporting the development of a child with autism is a multi-profile therapeutic work on disturbed areas, especially understanding and linguistic expression used in social communication and development of social contacts. Previous studies show that it is possible to perform some therapy using a robot. This article is a synthesis review of the literature on research with the use of robots in the therapy of children with the diagnosis of early childhood autism. The review includes scientific journals from 2005–2021. Using descriptors: ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders), Social robots, and Robot-based interventions, an analysis of available research in PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science was done. The results showed that a robot seems to be a great tool that encourages contact and involvement in joint activities. The review of the literature indicates the potential value of the use of robots in the therapy of people with autism as a facilitator in social contacts. Robot-Assisted Autism Therapy (RAAT) can encourage child to talk or do exercises. In the second aspect (prompting during a conversation), a robot encourages eye contact and suggests possible answers, e.g., during free conversation with a peer. In the third aspect (teaching, entertainment), the robot could play with autistic children in games supporting the development of joint attention. These types of games stimulate the development of motor skills and orientation in the body schema. In future work, a validation test would be desirable to check whether children with ASD are able to do the same with a real person by learning distrust and cheating the robot.

The article presents the Kelly Hunter Heartbeat Method (HHM) in work with people with autism spectrum disorders, used during workshops in Lublin. During the four days of meetings, a team of eight actors together with Hunter, in October 2019, conducted 14 workshops and the final performance with people with ASD. All these meetings were attended by over 70 people with ASD (from young children to adults, from non-verbal people to students with ASD from different universities in Lublin) and over 350 accompanying persons, in particular parents of people with ASD and students of pedagogical faculties at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University and the Catholic University of Lublin. The article refers to the constant elements of the method: Shakespeare and the rhythm of the heartbeat, structure of a place, people and activity, affirmation of a person with autism spectrum disorders, showing their undeniable impact on triggering the potential of people with autism spectrum disorders.

In its initial part, the article presents an analysis of the definition of intellectual disability and follows its development over the past half century. In order to diagnose an intellectual disability, it is important not only to demonstrate an overall level of intelligence that is at least two standard deviations below the median score, but also to take into account the concurrent criterion of developmental age. Moreover, as discussed in this article, defining an intellectual disability also requires addressing limitations in adaptive behaviour, i.e. cognitive, social and practical functioning skills. These diagnostic criteria are met by the “Adaptive Behavior Assessment System” (ABAS), published originally in 2000 by Harrison and Oakland. Its third edition came out in 2015. ABAS-based evaluations find a wide variety of uses, including assessing adaptive behaviour of people with intellectual disabilities, diagnosing and classifying disabilities and disorders, documenting and monitoring progress over time, and determining entitlement to disability benefits. The instrument has many strengths, but it also exhibits limitations. For example, comprehensive examination is only possible if the localised adaptations of ABAS are suited for people in the age bracket of 0-89 years. The effective use of this instrument is also dependent on its compatibility with the formal disability assessment system and with the strategies for working with students who have intellectual disabilities. The level of this compatibility should be no less than the American variant. Only then will ABAS-3 be fully adaptable to the purpose for which the assessment is developed, and the results obtained will be useful and properly applied.

A b s t r a c t. The essential element of the clinical picture of autism spectrum disorders is difficulties in processing social-emotional information and reacting appropriately to signals of emotional significance. Up to date the studies have indicated that on physiological level emotional reactions of autistic people are only slightly disordered, and the main problem lies in realizing and interpreting what they experience. The results of numerous studies on recognizing emotions by facial expressions are ambiguous. The article presents selected aspects of emotional development of autistic children, the knowledge of which is indispensable for conducting a complex therapy, and indicates the methods thanks to which such a development can occur.Key words: autism; emotional development; relationship.Proces formacji katechetów to nie tylko zdobywanie niezbędnej wiedzy, nabywanie umiejętności, ale również kształtowanie dojrzałej osobowości. Katecheta wśród różnych wyznaczonych zadań winien również wychowywać. Zadanie to polega na "przyjacielskim towarzyszeniu katechizowanym w ich osobowym rozwoju"1 . To szczególne zadanie gdy podmiotem katechezy jest osoba z zaburzeniami ze spektrum autyzmu. Bez wątpienia istotnym elementem obrazu klinicznego zaburzeń ze spektrum autyzmu są trudności przetwarzania informacji społeczno-emocjonalnych oraz odpowiedniego reagowania na sygnały o znaczeniu emocjonalnym. Już Asperger wskazywał, że dzieci z autyzmem "cechuje DR ANNA PROKOPIAK -Zakład Psychopedagogiki Specjalnej, Instytut Pedagogiki Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej; Fundacja Alpha; adres do korespondencji: e-mail: annap@autyzmlublin.pl 1 A. KICIŃSKI, Katecheza osób z niepełnosprawnością intelektualną, Lublin 2007, s. 302.