A robot-mediated intervention to promote spatial perception and language among children with ASD

This study focuses on spatial perception and language, which is crucial for development and
daily functioning, and examines its promotion through robot-mediated intervention among
children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study included 84 children aged 5-7 (M =
5.69, SD = 0.38), divided into four groups: (1) 22 children with ASD who participated in
robot-mediated intervention, (2) 20 children with ASD who participated in traditional
intervention without technology, (3) 22 children with ASD who did not participate in any
intervention, and (4) 20 typically developing (TD) children who served as the control group.
After conducting screening tests to assess social-communicative ability and verbal
intelligence, as well as spatial perception and language tests, the intervention took place in
the kindergartens once a week for 10 sessions. Subsequently, spatial perception and language
tests were administered again. Results revealed that before the intervention, children with
ASD had lower spatial perception than TD children, while no significant differences were
found in spatial language at baseline. Those abilities improved after both the traditional and
robot-mediated interventions. However, the improvement was particularly significant in the
robot group, which helped reduce the gaps between them and TD children. Moreover, their
performance in spatial perception even surpassed that of the TD children. The results
highlight the potential of using robotic technologies to enhance the abilities of children with
ASD and to develop innovative educational and therapeutic programs.