Robots with Autistic Children
Children with autism often have difficulty expressing their emotions, wants and needs. Scientists are adamant to find a way to enhance the interaction between caregivers, children, friends, parents, and other family members. Robots can help children with autism learn how to communicate and interact with others. They have been found to appear more comfortable around robots and open-up to them quickly. Robots are helping break through the barrier of silence.
There have been various studies observing the interaction of robots during the diagnosis and treatment of autistic children. Groups of scientists gather together to evaluate people with ASD and their interaction with robots. Some of the experiments consist of observing how children responded to robot behavior, instead of human behavior. They observed the stimulation of certain behavioral enhances with the robots. These machines were able to teach new skills to children. At the end, the group of scientists would review the results. It essential to look over the data thoroughly and with no rush. In most of the experiments people showed a positive impact from robot interaction.
These robots would respond and interact back and forth with children. Encouraging them and praising them if they did something right. The children were overall excited to work with robots. “When you are interacting with a person, there are a lot of social cues such as facial expressions, tonality of the voice, and movement of the body which are overwhelming and distracting for children with autism,” said the cofounder of LuxAI. (Waltz) It was a broader spectrum instead of the everyday human interaction. Many children were able to process new information quickly. The robots will also interact repeatedly without getting tired, frustrated, or upset. They remain active and focused throughout each session.
Robots interact with autistic children in groups or individually. They can have fun and learn at the same time. The children believe that they are just playing but, they are learning new things. These robots were able to gain autistic children’s attention quickly and helped keep them interested. This method was a great way to get the children to connect and communicate. Many parents are amazed by the progress their children have made with the help of robots. Scientists have stated that, “The robots use artificial intelligence, which analyzes the children’s behavior and uses that data to adapt to how to engage them.” (Dong) Most of the children understood quickly how the robots worked. They also were amazed by how it moved and communicated with them. All the children were very happy and showed effective responses to the treatment. When the robot would dance it would surprise some of these children at first. Then they would start dancing and singing along with the robot.
Robots can also help with tantrums and outbursts. The robots are programmed with built-in calming techniques. This helps autistic children stabilize their moods and emotions. There are also human like robots developed to accommodate
certain aspects. There have been studies that say, “Things like decreased facial features and human traits can help to bridge the gap between people with ASD and robots and engage learners in communication and social skills.” (Williams) These robots help develop communication emotions and feelings among autistic children. There are also robots that can speak different languages to help many different nationalities.
There are still some improvements that could be made to further enhance these methods. People are concerned that, “the child can do things – such as slap himself – that the robot will copy and possibly break. So we tend to use this third mode as entertainment only.” (Tucker) There could be double-sided cards instead of one-sided. Children would just end up looking at one side of the flashcard. They were not aware to flip the card over to the correct side. Some parents also feel that robots should speak slower. There are also some negative aspects to take into consideration. While many children showed positive results there were some children that had negative reactions. It is also essential that children have human contact. It is unrealistic to believe that any child would take pleasure out of spending a bunch of their time with robots.
The main goal of the studies is to get the children to react and communicate. Exposing them to new things and new surroundings. These experiments do not encourage fear or stress. They allow children to connect more and express themselves to the best of their abilities. Robots can teach autistic children new activities quickly and efficiently. These studies have been found more effective than using tablets and computers. Scientists still believe that, “research in this area is in its infancy, and further research is needed to determine the incremental validity of this approach.” (Diehl 249-262) These methods will be evolving over time and become even more effective.
Work Cited:
1.) Diehl, Joshua J et al. “The Clinical Use of Robots for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Critical Review” Research in autism spectrum disorders vol. 6,1 (2012): 249-262., https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3223958/
This is a study performed by multiple scientists to observe the treatments and diagnosis of children with autism. There were various contradictions throughout each type of experiment researched. They were unable to establish a conclusive discovery with their findings.
2.) Williams, Andrew. “Robots Help Teachers STEM Concepts to Students with Autism” Robotics Business (May 03, 2018) https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/consumer/robots-help-teach-stem-to-students-with-autism
This article shows how robots are used to assist autistic children and teachers in school. This method helps them learn how to solve problems. Teachers and adults have found this teaching practice to be very effective with most of the children. There are some children that have negative results.
3.) Waltz, Emily et al. “Therapy Robot Teaches Social Skills to Children with Autism” IEEE Spectrum (August 9th, 2018) https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/robot-therapy-for-autism
This article showed the impact of robots in the classroom setting. Specific manufacturers and products were discussed in further details. There were different videos to observe the children’s reactions.
4.) Tucker, Eleanor. “How Robots are Helping Children with Autism” The Guardian (February 1, 2015) https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/01/how-robots-helping-children-with-autism
This article breaks down what robots have that humans don’t. They use specific situations and details to express their beliefs. There are other aspects that are discussed regarding the concerns from using robots.
5.) Dong, Xiumei et al. “Robot Helps Social Skills for Autistic Children” USA Today (April 26, 2016) https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/04/26/robot-helps-social-skills-autistic-children/83554568/
This article discusses a certain robot and how it interacts with children. The author also explains how the robot works. Showing how the robot works and processes their surroundings.