Brief Report: The Smiles of a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder During an Animal-assisted Activity May Facilitate Social Positive Behaviors—Quantitative Analysis with Smile-detecting Interface

Abstract

We quantitatively measured the smiles of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD-C) using a wearable interface device during animal-assisted activities (AAA) for 7 months, and compared the results with a control of the same age. The participant was a 10-year-old boy with ASD, and a normal healthy boy of the same age was the control. They voluntarily participated in this study. Neither child had difficulty putting on the wearable device. They kept putting on the device comfortably through the entire experiment (duration of a session was about 30-40 min). This study was approved by the Ethical Committee based on the rules established by the Institute for Developmental Research, Aichi Human Service Center. The behavior of the participants during AAA was video-recorded and coded by the medical examiner (ME). In both groups, the smiles recognized by the ME corresponded with the computer-detected smiles. In both groups, positive social behaviors increased when the smiles increased. Also, negative social behaviors decreased when the smiles increased in the (ASD-C). It is suggested that by leading the (ASD-C) into a social environment that may cause smiling, the child's social positive behaviors may be facilitated and his social negative behaviors may be decreased.

Design of affective robot-assisted activity for children with autism spectrum disorders

“…Several studies using horses [9] [10] or dogs [11] have been conducted, reporting that positive social behaviors (e.g., smiling and positive physical contact) increased. We also have examined AAA with dogs and verified that participants' positive social behaviors and facial expressions (e.g., smiles) increased by using a wearable device measuring facial expressions during the activity [12]. However, previous AAA studies have evaluation difficulties because animal behaviors cannot be controlled because a quantitative description of animals' behavior is difficult.…”

“…We proposed a comprehensive framework called ARAA for children with ASD to facilitate their social interaction and communication skills based on the concept of AAA with psychoeducational approach [12]. The main approach was to encourage children to produce self-initiated positive social behaviors based on their positive emotional responses through a child-driven, improvised interaction via quantitative evidence-based evaluation.…”

“…Affective Robot-Assisted Activity Figure 1 illustrates an overview of the proposed activity. In this activity, the participant with ASD interacts with a small humanoid robot together with a therapist in the same manner as AAA [12]. The robot is tele-operated by an operator so as to respond to the participant based on instructions from the therapist who is observing reactions from the participant.…”

“…The device has been prototyped by Glueber et al [17] and tested for facial expression measurement among children with ASD during AAA sessions for seven months [12]. Even though a participant with ASD more or less has oversensitiv- ity for tactile sensation, more than 70% of participants agreed to wear the device.…”

Complementary and alternative medicine use in children with autistic spectrum disorder in Mauritius

“…A case study which involved 14 sessions of animal-assisted play therapy demonstrated that it helped improve social communication, including joint attention and waiting behaviors [30]. Likewise, the smile caused during animal-assisted activities has been reported to improve positive social behaviors and decreased negative social behaviors [31]. It has also been reported that the presence of a pig in the classroom, with contact time with the animal was at least 40 min/week, helped improve social functioning, social approach behaviors decreased social withdrawal behaviors and increased social skills [32].…”