Robot-based augmentative and alternative communication for nonverbal children with communication disorders

Abstract

Nonverbal children with communication disorders have difficulties communicating through oral language. To facilitate communication, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is commonly used in intervention settingss. Different forms of AAC have been used; however, one key aspect of AAC is that children have different preferences and needs in the intervention process. One particular AAC method does not necessarily work for all children. Although robots have been used in different applications, this is one of the first times that robots have been used for improvement of communication in nonverbal children. In this work, we explore robot-based AAC through humanoid robots that assist therapists in interventions with nonverbal children. Through playing activities, our study assessed changes in gestures, vocalization, speech, and verbal expression in children. Our initial results show that robot-based AAC intervention has a positive impact on the communication skills of nonverbal children.

Lexical Representation of Emotions for High Functioning Autism(HFA) via Emotional Story Intervention using Smart Media

“…The robot was better than PC at motivating the children to produce a greater number of emotional words. There is an increasingly large body of evidence of successful implementation of smart media to improve social communication skills [2,3,4,6]. Nevertheless, effective smart media based intervention requires careful use.…”

“…Smart media such as intelligent robots or PCs may be a favorable method when presenting tasks to individuals with children with autism spectrum disorders(ASDs) for effective intervention [2,3,4]. Children with ASDs exhibit emotional and behavioral characteristics that are unique compared to other children with disabilities.…”

EzCom: Um Recurso de Comunicação Aumentativa e Alternativa para Promover a Comunicação de Crianças com Histórico de Deficiência Intelectual

“…O índice de satisfação dos usuários foi medido por meio de um questionário utilizando a escala Likert. Jeon et al (2014) propõem atividades e tarefas que estimulam crianças com necessidades complexas de comunicação verbal a interagir com um robô que utiliza a CAA para realizar a comunicação por meio de imagens. O sistema possui como funcionalidades uma interface simplificada que pode ser editada diretamente na tela pelo terapeuta, e quando as crianças tocam em alguma imagem essa imagem é vocalizada por meio do robô.…”

Integration of a Social Robot in a Pedagogical and Logopedic Intervention with Children: A Case Study

“…The use of social robots in education has been found very useful in personalizing each child’s needs supporting individual learning across various domains [ 23 , 24 ]. Therefore, teachers and education therapists are considering humanoid robots as a useful tool for their practice [ 25 , 26 , 27 ]. This is because they are designed to be interactive with humans.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that children with special needs tend to interact smoothly with robots as they are more predictable than human beings and do not express emotions, however, most of these studies were carried out with children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The use of humanoid robots such as NAO-type robots with children with attention deficit disorder (ADD), without or with hyperactivity (ADHD), and with speech language disorders such as dyslalias or dyslexias, is scarce [ 21 , 22 , 24 , 26 ]. In these cases, normally a support such as video and audio content are mostly used as a teaching media [ 32 , 33 ].…”