Robotic technology for teaching adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: a feasibility study

The use of interactive robotic technology in promoting attention, communication and social skills for adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was investigated. Attention, social skills and communication were measured while participants played a memory card matching game in 3 modes: robot mode, Smart Board mode and playing cards mode. We recruited 3 participants with ASD and 3 with other cognitive impairments from a secondary school with a special needs unit. In separate sessions for each game mode, participants played in pairs for about 15 minutes, with a game organizer present. We developed 16 subcategories of Interactions and Intra-actions describing social actions. Two of the 3 participants with ASD demonstrated reduced repetitive behavior when using both the robot and the Smart Board. Conclusion: robot technology shows potential for assisting teaching of social skills to adolescents with ASD, but the robot features should be utilized rather than using it as an animated computer.