Application of Robots to Improve Social and Communication Skills among Autistic Children

M.Z. Ismail; N. I. L. Azaman; N.K Khalid

M.Z. Ismail
N. I. L. Azaman
N.K Khalid

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) typically appears during the first three years of life. It exhibits certain characteristics such as impairment in social interaction and communication skill. This paper analyzed the use of robots in augmenting social and communication skills among ASD children. The features and characteristics of seven widely used robots and their impacts were included. There are variety of robots worldwide being used as therapy assistants in ASD therapy with multiple functions and appearances. Thus, future study can focus on how to combine the features and advantages of each robot to create more efficient robots in helping children with ASD.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

M. D. Kogan, S. J. Blumberg, L. A. Schieve, C. A. Boyle, J. M. Perrin, R. M. Ghandour, G. K. Singh, B. B. Strickland, E. Trevathan and P. C. van Dyck, “Prevalence of Parent-Reported Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children in the US,” PEDIATRICS, vol. 124, no. 5, 2009.

K. Dautenhahn and I. Werry, “Towards interactive robots in autism therapy: Background, motivation and challenges,” Pragmatics and Cognition, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1-35, 2004.

A.R. Taheri, M. Alemi, A. Meghdari, H.R. PourEtemad and S.L. Holderread, “Clinical application of humanoid robots in playing imitation games for autistic children in Iran,” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 176, pp. 898-906, 2015.

S. Shamsudin, H. Yussof, L. I. Ismail, S. Mohamed, F.A. Hanapiah and N.I. Zahari, “Initial Response in HRI- a Case Study on Evaluation of Child with Autism Spectrum Disorders Interacting with a Humanoid Robot NAO,” Procedia Engineering, vol. 41, pp. 1448-1455, 2012.

S. Thill, C. A Pop, T. Belpaeme, T. Ziemke and B. Vanderborght, “Robot-assisted therapy for autism spectrum disorders with (partially) autonomous control: Challenges and outlook,” Paladyn, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 209-217, 2013.

C. M. Stanton, P. H. Kahn, R. L. Severson, J. H. Ruckert and B. T. Gill, “Robotic Animals Might Aid in the Social Development of Children with Autism,” in the Proceedings of 3rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, New York, 2008, pp. 97–104.

L. I. Ismail, S. Shamsudin , H. Yussof, F. A. Hanapiah and N. I. Zahari, “Robot-based Intervention Program for Autistic Children with Humanoid Robot NAO: Initial Response in Stereotyped Behavior,” Procedia Engineering, vol. 41, pp. 1441-1447, 2012.

L. Wing, "Autistic spectrum disorders," British Medical Journal, vol. 312, pp. 327-328, 1996.

C. M. Stanton, P. H. Kahn, R. L. Severson, J. H. Ruckert and B. T. Gill, “Robots for Use in Autism Research,” Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, vol. 14, pp. 275-294, 2012.

Z. Warren, Z. Zheng, S. Das, E. M. Young, A. Swanson, A. Weitlauf and N. Sarkar, “Brief report: Development of a robotic intervention platform for young children with ASD,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 45, no. 12, pp. 3870-3876, 2015.

E. Bekele, A. J. Crittendon, A. Swanson, N. Sarkar and E. Z. Warren, “Pilot clinical application of an adaptive robotic system for young children with autism,” Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 598–608, 2014.

B. Huskens, R. Verschuur, J. Gillesen, R. Didden and E. Barakova, “Promoting question-asking in school-aged children with autism spectrum disorders: Effectiveness of a robot intervention compared to a human-trainer intervention,” Developmental Neurorehabilitation, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 345–356, 2013.

Z. E. Warren, Z. Zheng, A. R. Swanson, E. Bekele, L. Zhang, J. A. Crittendon, A. F. Weitlauf and N. Sarkar, “Can robotic interaction improve joint attention skills?” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 3726-3734, 2013.

E. T. Bekele, U. Lahiri, A. R. Swanson, J. A. Crittendon, Z. E. Warren and N. Sarkar, “A step towards developing adaptive robot-mediated intervention architecture (ARIA) for children with autism,” IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 289-299, 2013.

S. M. Anzalone, E. Tilmont, S. Boucenna, J. Xavier, A. L. Jouen, N. Bodeau, K. Maharatna, M. Chetouani and D. Cohen, “How children with autism spectrum disorder behave and explore the 4-dimensional (spatial 3D + time) environment during a joint attention induction task with a robo,t” Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 814–826, 2014.

B. Huskens, A. Palmen, M. Werff, T. Lourens and E. Barakova, “Improving collaborative play between children with autism spectrum disorders and their siblings: The effectiveness of a robot-mediated intervention based on Lego therapy,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 3746-3755, 2015.

S. Shamsuddin, H. Yussof, L. I. Ismail, S. Mohamed, F. A. Hanapiah and N. I. Zahari, “Humanoid Robot NAO Interacting with Autistic Children of Moderately Impaired Intelligence to Augment Communication Skills,” Procedia Engineering, vol. 41, pp. 1533 – 1538, 2012.

S. M. Srinivasan, I. K. Park, L. B. Neelly and A. N. Bhat, “A comparison of the effects of rhythm and robotic interventions on repetitive behaviors and affective states of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD),” Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, vol. 18, pp. 51 – 63, 2015.

A. Billard, B. Robins, J. Nadel and K. Dautenhahn, “BuildingRobota, a mini-humanoid robot for the rehabilitation of children with autism,” Assistive Technology, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 37–49, 2006.

B. Robins, K. Dautenhahn, R. TeBoekhorst and A. Billard, “Robotic assistants in therapy and education of children with autism: Can a small humanoid robot help encourage social interaction skills?” Universal Access in the Information Society, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 105–120, 2005.

B. Robins, K. Dautenhahn and J. Dubowski, “Does appearance matter in the interaction of children with autism with a humanoid robot?” Interaction Studies, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 509–542, 2006.

B. Vanderborght, R. Simut, J. Saldien, C. Pop, A. S. Rusu, S. Pintea, D. Lefeber and D. O. David, “Using the social robot probo as a social story telling agent for children with ASD,” Interaction Studies, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 348-372, 2012.

P. C. Anamaria, R. Simut, S. Pintea, J. Saldien, A. Rusu, D. Daniel, V. Johan, L. Dirk and V. Bram, “Can the social robot Probo help children with autism to identify situation-based emotions? A series of single case experiments,” International Journal of Humanoid Robotics, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 1-23, 2013.

H. Kozima and C. Nakagawa and Y. Yasuda, “Interactive robots for communication-care: a case-study in autism therapy,” in IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, 2005, Nashville, pp. 341–346.

C. A. Costescu, B. Vanderborght and D. O David, “Reversal learning task in children with autism spectrum disorder: A robot-based approach,” Journal of Autism and Developmental, pp. 3715-3725, 2015.

S. M. Srinivasan, K. A. Lynch, D. J. Bubela, T. D. Gifford and A. N. Bhat, “Effect of interactions between a child and a robot on the imitation and praxis performance of typically developing children and a child with autism: A preliminary study,” Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 885-904, 2013.

M. Kaur, T. Gifford, K. L. Marsh and A. Bhat, “Effect of robot-child interactions on bilateral coordination skills of typically developing children and a child with autism spectrum disorder: A preliminary study,” Journal of Motor Learning and Development, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 31–37, 2013.

A. Duquette, F. Michaud and H. Mercier, “Exploring the use of a mobile robot as an imitation agent with children with low functioning low functioning autism,” Autonomous Robots, vol. 24, no. 2, pp.147–157, 2008.

J. Wainer, K. Dautenhahn, B. Robins and F. Amirabdollahian, “A pilot study with a novel setup for collaborative play of the humanoid robot KASPAR with children with autism,” International Journal of Social Robotics, vol. 6, no. 1, pp.45–65, 2013.