Emotional Skills Training with Social Robot

Summary

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that involves difficulties especially in the sphere of social interaction, social communication, and restricted and stereotyped behavior patterns.

In particular, emotional regulation is a central developmental skill. In fact, the emotional dysregulation observed in children with autism results in increased social and behavioral difficulties over time.

Therefore, the present protocol aims to test the role of a human-assisted social robot as a mediator of social-emotional understanding intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

The children, will be divided into two groups, an experimental one in which training will be conducted through the use of social robot and control group which will be conducted through traditional therapy.

Conditions

• Autism Spectrum Disorder

Interventions

OTHER

NAO intervention

The protocol is divided into 4 stages: 1. EMOTION RECOGNITION - "Mime Game": activity aimed at acquiring the ability to label basic emotions. 2. EMOTION/SITUATION ASSOCIATION - "How do I feel when...?" game: presentation of social situations to acquire the ability to attribute the emotion associated with the situation presented. 3. DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN EMOTIONS AND THOUGHTS - "Think-Feel Game": activity aimed at differentiating thoughts from emotions and acquiring the skill of linking a thought to an emotion. 4. LEARNING A REPERTOIRE OF USEFUL THOUGHTS: acquisition of useful thoughts related to certain emotional situations. The robot provides instructions and if the child requests it, it elects prompts.

OTHER

Traditional intervention

The protocol is divided into 4 stages: 1. EMOTION RECOGNITION - "Mime Game": activity aimed at acquiring the ability to label basic emotions. 2. EMOTION/SITUATION ASSOCIATION - "How do I feel when...?" game: presentation of social situations to acquire the ability to attribute the emotion associated with the situation presented. 3. DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN EMOTIONS AND THOUGHTS - "Think-Feel Game": activity aimed at differentiating thoughts from emotions and acquiring the skill of linking a thought to an emotion. 4. LEARNING A REPERTOIRE OF USEFUL THOUGHTS: acquisition of useful thoughts related to certain emotional situations. The therapist provides instructions, and if the child has difficulty responding, he or she may ask the operator for prompts.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Messina, Italy

  collaborator OTHER

• Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Flavia Marino · Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

5 Years

Max Age

10 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-06-05

Primary Completion

2024-02-06

Completion

2025-04-24

Countries

• Italy

Study Locations