Individual Differences of Children with Autism in Robot-assisted Autism Therapy
Anara Sandygulova, Aida Amirova, Zhansaule Telisheva, Aida Zhanatkyzy, Nazerke Rakhymbayeva
Abstract
Research has recognized the importance of individ-ual differences of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) that require interventions to meet their heterogeneous needs. This relatively large-scale study investigates a robot-assisted autism therapy (RAAT) with 34 children with diverse forms of ASD and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). We conducted a multi-session study with multi-purposeful activities targeting the socio-emotional abilities of children in a rehabilitation setting. We found a number of quantitative results suggesting various autism-related and demographic differences such as diverse forms of ASD, co-occurrence of ADHD, verbal skills, and age groups. The main findings are: 1) severity of ASD forms may not predict intervention outcomes but instead the co-occurrence of ADHD with LFA diagnosis may negatively impact social smiling; 2) verbal children were more generally engaged and less aggressive with the robot than non-verbal children whose curiosity rose over sessions; and 3) younger children (3.4 y.o.) showed more affection, while older children (7–12 y.o.) were better engaged through speaking more words and having longer engagement and eye contact with the robot.