Robot-Mediated Intervention for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Robot-Mediated Social Skills Intervention for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

This study is being done to examine the impact of an interactive, social robotics program in helping children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) understand emotions and how to better recognize emotions while interacting with others. Eligible families will be randomized to either the robot intervention (n=20) or a no intervention (TAU; n=20) condition for 8-14 weeks. Assessments will occur at pre- and post-intervention as well as weekly for both conditions.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Child participants must be between the ages of 4 years, 0 months and 8 years, 11 months.
• Children must meet criteria for ASD or autism on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2; Lord et al., 2012) plus receive a clinical judgment of pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) or autism by the study team.
• Children must possess sufficient expressive language skills to qualify for at least an ADOS-2 Module 2.
• Caregivers must agree to participate in the study and commit to having their child participating in the intervention to which they are randomized for approximately three months.
• Caregivers must agree to bring their child in for pre-testing and post-testing.
• Family must speak English at least 50% in the home.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Child IQ <70 (per Stanford Binet short form).
• History of head injury, seizure disorder, severe aggression or self-injurious behavior.
• Vision impairment after correction.
• Cannot be living in foster care.