The Quantitative Case-by-Case Analyses of the Socio-Emotional Outcomes of Children with ASD in Robot-Assisted Autism Therapy

Abstract

With its focus on robot-assisted autism therapy, this paper presents case-by-case analyses of socio-emotional outcomes of 34 children aged 3–12 years old, with different cases of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). We grouped children by the following characteristics: ASD alone (n = 22), ASD+ADHD (n = 12), verbal (n = 11), non-verbal (n = 23), low-functioning autism (n = 24), and high-functioning autism (n = 10). This paper provides a series of separate quantitative analyses across the first and last sessions, adaptive and non-adaptive sessions, and parent and no-parent sessions, to present child experiences with the NAO robot, during play-based activities. The results suggest that robots are able to interact with children in social ways and influence their social behaviors over time. Each child with ASD is a unique case and needs an individualized approach to practice and learn social skills with the robot. We, finally, present specific child–robot intricacies that affect how children engage and learn over time as well as across different sessions.

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder Could Interact More Easily with a Robot than with a Human: Reasons and Limits

“…However, long-term exposure appears to be beneficial. While some studies show a decrease in eye contact with the robot throughout the interaction [29,180], others highlight that the improvement in behavior is maintained over several sessions [47,246] or even increases as children show more and more engagement in the activity as time goes on [26,202]. This benefit would be all the greater for children with the most severe autistic symptoms, compared with peers with a mild to moderate form of autism [202].…”

“…It is therefore important to take them into account when analyzing the results. Similarly, in individuals with ASD, the appearance of the robot [167], the profile of the child [202], and the intervention context can also have an impact on the interaction.…”

“…An individual-level analysis reveals significant variations in reaction when interacting with robots [202]. Some autistic children interact with robots in the same way as they would with an object, while others treat them as social agents [108].…”

“…The individual scale makes it possible to use the child's specific interests [239] and individual characteristics to adjust the difficulty of the interaction content [19,240] as well as the robot's appearance [241]. Personalizing interaction sessions according to the child's preferences and abilities thus enables increased engagement [202]. Activities that are familiar to the child lead to greater engagement by the child compared with unfamiliar activities [47].…”

Assisted Robots in Therapies for Children with Autism in Early Childhood

“…Finally, articles were found that did not perform robotic therapy but provided advanced insights into the technologies used (algorithms) in therapies for autistic children from different articles [ 42 ], the ethical and social aspects of robot-assisted therapy [ 43 ], and the socio-emotional outcomes of robot-assisted therapy [ 44 ], providing valuable information on the expectations and ethical acceptability of this new form of intervention.…”