Social Robotics for Autism

Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica20 enrolled

Overview

Socio-pragmatics focuses on the study of language in the context of social interactions. It explores how individuals use language to communicate effectively in specific social situations, taking into consideration the social, cultural and contextual factors that influence communication. Socio-pragmatics analyzes linguistic and nonlinguistic behaviors, such as gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, and posture, to understand intended meaning, social implications, and shared communicative norms. Children with autism often present difficulties in social-pragmatic skills. The integration of advanced technologies can play a crucial role in innovative approaches to the development of this skill. In this experimental protocol, an attempt will be made to demonstrate the effectiveness of training through the use of social robots by comparing the performance of an ASD group performing a treatment using social robots with a control group performing the same in a traditional manner.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Autism Autism Spectrum Disorder

Interventions

Experimental GroupOTHER

The training sessions were carried out following a strict order. The first phase was dedicated to improving group social skills. The beginning of the session was dedicated to greetings between participants and questions of social interest. During the second phase, videos were shown and participants answered targeted questions asked by the Nao Robot to understand if the child had correctly interpreted the general meaning of the story and to determine the degree of awareness that the expression should be understood in a non-literal sense. In the third phase, a role play was performed among the participants, which re-enacted the situations seen in the videos, involving all the members of the group in turn. During the last phase, participants were asked to share experiences in their lives in which they had used or could have used the pragmatic skill just analyzed. The protocol included 15 phases over 31 sessions, each lasting 45 minutes, twice a week.

control groupOTHER

The entire intervention was carried out in a group entirely mediated by an operator without the use of a social robot. The first phase is dedicated to improving group social skills. The beginning of the session was dedicated to greetings between participants and questions of social interest. During the second phase, stories were read and participants answered target questions to understand if the child had correctly interpreted the general meaning of the story and to determine the degree of awareness that the expression should be understood in a non-literal sense. In the third phase, a role play was performed among the participants, in which all members of the group participated in turn, recalling the situations seen in the videos. During the last phase, participants were asked to share experiences from their lives in which they used or could use the pragmatic skill just analyzed. The protocol included 15 phases over 31 sessions, each lasting 45 minutes, twice a week.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 8 YearsMax age: 13 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Aged between 8 and 13 years * Clinical diagnosis of ASD according to DSM-5 criteria by a licensed child neuropsychiatrist * Verbal and performance IQ \> 75 and total IQ \> 85, assessed with the WISC-IV * No current aggressive behavior or severe oppositional tendencies * No hearing, vision, or physical impairments that could interfere with participation * Not currently taking any psychotropic medications Exclusion Criteria: * Absence of a clinical diagnosis of ASD based on DSM-5 criteria * Verbal or performance IQ ≤ 75, or total IQ ≤ 85 as assessed by WISC-IV * Presence of aggressive behavior or severe oppositional tendencies * Hearing, vision, or physical impairments that could hinder participation in the intervention * Current use of psychotropic medications

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children 4° edizione (WISC-IV)

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children 4° edizione (WISC-IV) is a clinical tool for assessing the cognitive abilities of children and young people between the ages of 6 years and 16 years and 11 months.

Time frame: Baseline assessment at Day 1 (prior to intervention); the test requires approximately 56-80 minutes to complete.

Language Pragmatic Abilities (APL) -MEDEA

The APL MEDEA is a standardized assessment tool specifically designed to evaluate socio-pragmatic skills in individuals aged 5 to 14 years. This test measures various aspects of pragmatic language skills that are essential for effective communication within social contexts. The main objective of the APL MEDEA is to assess pragmatic language skills employed during everyday interactions, including the understanding and appropriate use of language in various social situations, recognition of social cues, and effective conversational strategies. The total score ranges from 0 to 68.

Time frame: Baseline assessment at Day 1 (pre-intervention) and post-intervention assessment at 3 months (at the end of the intervention); each test session lasts approximately 30-45 minutes.