Inclusive Education for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Use of Humanoid Robots and Virtual Agents to Alleviate Symptoms and Improve Skills, and A Pilot Study

Abstract

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder often struggle to establish and keep positive relationships with peers and adults due to experiencing communication and social difficulties. It has been shown that humanoid robots and virtual agents can enable interventionists to maximize engagement during instruction and program for generalization. Having employed the humanoid robots as a mediator and therapeutic support tool for children with autism spectrum disorder can help to support inclusive education for young children with autism spectrum disorder. Similarly, the findings obtained in many research studies that have been carried out recently support the use of technology-aided interventions and instruction with interactive virtual agents on children with autism spectrum disorder. Therefore, in this study, first, as a result of a scoping review, the use of humanoid robots and virtual agents for inclusive education is discussed. Then, the information about a pilot study based on single-subject research model is presented. The aim of the pilot study was to evaluate whether children with autism spectrum disorder could benefit from a humanoid robot in improving their symbolic play skills. Because as the related literature confirms a developmentally appropriate curriculum involving symbolic play is necessary for educational activities targeting young children. It was seen that throughout the sessions carried out in the pilot study, the children had high engagement with the humanoid robot and the parents' feedbacks showed that the children benefitted from the humanoid robot in improving their symbolic play skills. Finally, challenges, opportunities and future research directions in the related domains are provided in this paper.