Clinical Interventions of Social Humanoid Robots in the Treatment of a Set of High- and Low-Functioning Autistic Iranian Twins

Document Type : Article

Authors

1 Social & Cognitive Robotics Laboratory Center of Excellence in Design, Robotics and Automation (CEDRA) Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

2 Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences (ICBS), Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In this paper, the robot-assisted interventions for a pair of fraternal twins with autism, one of whom is high-functioning and the other low-functioning is presented.  Since many genetic and environmental factors were the same for both participants, the effect of individual and group robotic games on these two children with high- and low-functioning autism were compared. The results indicated improvement in joint attention skills for both subjects. It was further observed that robot group games had the potential to improve social skills in the subject with high-functioning autism; and lower the amount of stereotyped and detrimental behaviors in the participant with low-functioning autism. Both participant’s communication with each other improved, and their mother claimed she observed her children playing a meaningful game together at home for the first time since their birth.

Keywords

Main Subjects


References
1. Scassellati, B., Admoni, H., and Mataric, M. \Robots
for use in autism research", Annual Review of Biomedical
Engineering, 14, pp. 275-294 (2012).
2. Diehl, J.J., Schmitt, L.M., Villano, M., and Crowell,
C.R. \The clinical use of robots for individuals with
autism spectrum disorders: A critical review", Research
in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 6(1), pp. 249-
262 (2012).
3. Pouretemad, H., Diagnosis and Treatment of Joint
Attention in Autistic Children, (in Persian), Tehran,
Iran Arjomand (2011).
4. Mavadati, S.M., Feng, H., Gutierrez, A., and Mahoor,
M.H. \Comparing the gaze responses of children with
autism and typically developed individuals in humanrobot
interaction", In Humanoid Robots (Humanoids),
2014 14th IEEE-RAS International Conference, pp.
1128-1133 (November 2014).
A. Taheri et al./Scientia Iranica, Transactions B: Mechanical Engineering 25 (2018) 1197{1214 1211
5. Taheri, A.R., Alemi, M., Meghdari, A., PourEtemad,
H.R., and Basiri, N.M., \Social robots as assistants
for autism therapy in Iran: Research in progress",
In Robotics and Mechatronics (ICRoM), 2014 Second
RSI/ISM International Conference, pp. 760-766, IEEE
(October 2014).
6. Robins, B., Dickerson, P., Stribling, P., and Dautenhahn,
K. \Robot-mediated joint attention in children
with autism: A case study in robot-human interaction",
Interaction Studies, 5(2), pp. 161-198 (2004).
7. Kozima, H., Nakagawa, C., and Yasuda, Y. \Interactive
robots for communication-care: A case-study
in autism therapy", In Robot and Human Interactive
Communication, ROMAN 2005, IEEE International
Workshop, pp. 341-346 (August 2005).
8. Pioggia, G., Sica, M.L., Ferro, M., Igliozzi, R., Muratori,
F., Ahluwalia, A., and Rossi, D.D. \Humanrobot
interaction in autism: FACE, an android-based
social therapy", In Robot and Human Interactive Communication,
2007. RO-MAN 2007, The 16th IEEE
International Symposium, pp. 605-612 (August 2007).
9. Liu, C., Conn, K., Sarkar, N., and Stone, W. \Online
a ect detection and robot behavior adaptation for
intervention of children with autism", Robotics, IEEE
Transactions on, 24(4), pp. 883-896 (2008).
10. Feil-Seifer, D. and Mataric, M.J. \Toward socially
assistive robotics for augmenting interventions for children
with autism spectrum disorders", In Experimental
Robotics, pp. 201-210, Springer Berlin Heidelberg
(2009).
11. Wainer, J., Dautenhahn, K., Robins, B., and Amirabdollahian,
F. \A pilot study with a novel setup for
collaborative play of the humanoid robot KASPAR
with children with autism", International Journal of
Social Robotics, 6(1), pp. 45-65 (2014).
12. Fujimoto, I., Matsumoto, T., De Silva, P.R.S.,
Kobayashi, M., and Higashi, M. \Mimicking and
evaluating human motion to improve the imitation skill
of children with autism through a robot", International
Journal of Social Robotics, 3(4), pp. 349-357 (2011).
13. Shamsuddin, S., Yussof, H., Ismail, L., Mohamed, S.,
and Hanapiah, F. \Initial response in HRI-a case study
on evaluation of child with autism spectrum disorders
interacting with a humanoid robot NAO", Procedia
Engineering, 41, pp. 1448-1455 (2012).
14. Meghdari, A., Alemi, M., Pouretemad, H., Taheri,
A., Mahboob Basiri, N., Roshani Neshat, A., Nasiri,
N., and Aghasizadeh, M. \Utilizing humanoid robots
in teaching motor and social skills to children with
autism", 3rd Basic and Clinical Neuroscience Conference,
Tehran, Iran (2014).
15. Salvador, M., Silver, S., and Mahoor, M. \An emotion
recognition comparative study of autistic and typically
developing children using the Zeno robot", International
Conference on Robotics and Automation, IEEE,
Seattle, USA (2015).
16. Begum, M., Serna, R.W., Kontak, D., Allspaw, J.,
Kuczynski, J., Yanco, H.A., and Suarez, J. \Measuring
the ecacy of robots in autism therapy: How informative
are standard HRI metrics", In Proceedings of
the Tenth Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference
on Human-Robot Interaction, pp. 335-342 (March
2015).
17. Khosla, R., Nguyen, K., and Chu, M.T. \Socially
assistive robot enabled home-based care for supporting
people with autism", In PACIS, p. 12 (2015).
18. Kajopoulos, J., Wong, A.H.Y., Yuen, A.W.C., Dung,
T.A., Kee, T.Y., and Wykowska, A. \Robot-assisted
training of joint attention skills in children diagnosed
with autism", In International Conference on Social
Robotics, Paris, France, pp. 296-305, Springer (2015).
19. Ravindra, P., De Silva, S., Tadano, K., Saito, A., Lambacher,
S.G., and Higashi, M. \Therapeutic-assisted
robot for children with autism", In Intelligent Robots
and Systems, IROS 2009. IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf., pp.
3561-3567 (October 2009).
20. Duquette, A., Michaud, F., and Mercier, H. \Exploring
the use of a mobile robot as an imitation agent with
children with low-functioning autism", Autonomous
Robots, 24(2), pp. 147-157 (2008).
21. Boccanfuso, L., Barney, E., Foster, C., Ahn, Y.A.,
Chawarska, K., Scassellati, B., and Shic, F. \Emotional
robot to examine di erent play patterns and
a ective responses of children with and without ASD",
In 2016 11th ACM/IEEE International Conference
on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), pp. 19-26, IEEE
(March 2016).
22. Pioggia, G., Ferro, M., Sica, M.L., Dalle Mura, G.,
Casalini, S., De Rossi, D., and Muratori, F. \Imitation
and learning of the emotional behaviour: towards
an android-based treatment for people with autism",
In Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on
Epigenetic Robotics: Modeling Cognitive Development
in Robotic Systems (2006, September).
23. Robins, B., Dautenhahn, K., Te Boekhorst, R., and
Billard, A. \Robotic assistants in therapy and education
of children with autism: Can a small humanoid
robot help encourage social interaction skills?", Universal
Access in the Information Society, 4(2), pp. 105-
120 (2005).
24. Werry, I., Dautenhahn, K., Ogden, B., and Harwin,
W. \Can social interaction skills be taught by a social
agent? The role of a robotic mediator in autism
therapy", In Cognitive Technology: Instruments of
Mind, pp. 57-74, Springer Berlin Heidelberg (2001).
25. Kean, J.M. \The development of social skills in autistic
twins", The New Zealand Medical Journal, 81(534),
pp. 204-207 (1975).
1212 A. Taheri et al./Scientia Iranica, Transactions B: Mechanical Engineering 25 (2018) 1197{1214
26. Folstein, S. and Rutter, M. \Infantile autism: a genetic
study of 21 twin pairs", Journal of Child Psychology
and Psychiatry, 18(4), pp. 297-321 (1977).
27. Ste enburg, S., Gillberg, C., Hellgren, L., Andersson,
L., Gillberg, I.C., Jakobsson, G., and Bohman, M. \A
twin study of autism in Denmark, Finland, Iceland,
Norway and Sweden", Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, 30(3), pp. 405-416 (1989).
28. Wong, C.C.Y., Meaburn, E.L., Ronald, A., et al.
\Methylomic analysis of monozygotic twins discordant
for autism spectrum disorder and related behavioral
traits", Molecular Psychiatry, 19(4), pp. 495-503
(2014).
29. Taniai, H., Nishiyama, T., Miyachi, T., Imaeda, M.,
and Sumi, S. \Genetic in
uences on the broad spectrum
of autism: Study of proband-ascertained twins",
American J. of Medical Genetics, Part B: Neuropsychiatric
Genetics, 147(6), pp. 844-849 (2008).
30. Mitchell, S.R., Reiss, A.L., Tatusko, D.H., et al. \Neuroanatomic
alterations and social and communication
de cits in monozygotic twins discordant for autism disorder",
The American Journal of Psychiatry, 166(8),
pp. 917-925 (2009).
31. Ho, A., Todd, R.D., and Constantino, J.N. \Brief
report: autistic traits in twins vs. non-twins-a preliminary
study", Journal of Autism and Developmental
Disorders, 35(1), pp. 129-133 (2005).
32. Constantino, J.N. and Todd, R.D. \Autistic traits in
the general population: a twin study", Archives of
General Psychiatry, 60(5), pp. 524-530 (2003).
33. Bolton, P., Macdonald, H., Pickles, A., Rios, P.A.,
Goode, S., Crowson, M., and Rutter, M. \A casecontrol
family history study of autism", Journal of
Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35(5), pp. 877-900
(1994).
34. Folstein, S. and Rutter, M. \Infantile autism: a genetic
study of 21 twin pairs", Journal of Child psychology
and Psychiatry, 18(4), pp. 297-321 (1977).
35. Bailey, A., Bolton, P., Butler, L., Couteur, A., Murphy,
M., Scott, S., and Rutter, M. \Prevalence of the fragile
X anomaly amongst autistic twins and singletons",
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 34(5), pp.
673-688 (1993).
36. Sultana, R., Yu, C.E., Yu, J., et al. \Identi cation of
a novel gene on chromosome 7q11. 2 interrupted by a
translocation breakpoint in a pair of autistic twins",
Genomics, 80(2), pp. 129-134 (2002).
37. Hilton, J.C. and Seal, B.C. \Brief report: comparative
ABA and DIR trials in twin brothers with
autism", Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,
37(6), pp. 1197-1201 (2007).
38. Geschwind, D.H. \Advances in autism", Annual Review
of Medicine, 60, p. 367 (2009).
39. Burack, J.A. and Volkmar, F.R. \Development of
low-and high-functioning autistic children", Journal of
Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33(3), pp. 607-616
(1992).
40. Engel, R.J. and Schutt, R.K., The Practice of Research
in Social Work, Sage Publications, Chapter 7 (2016).
41. https://www.aldebaran.com/en (March. 2016).
42. http://www.hansonrobotics.com/ (March. 2016).
43. Gilliam, J.E., Gilliam Autism Rating Scale: Examiner's
Manual, Pro-Ed (1995).
44. Ashburner, J., Ziviani, J., and Rodger, S. \Sensory
processing and classroom emotional, behavioral, and
educational outcomes in children with autism spectrum
disorder", American Journal of Occupational
Therapy, 62(5), pp. 564-573 (2008).
45. Ahmadi, S.J., Safari, T., Hemmatian, M., and Khalili,
Z. \Exploring the criterion of diagnosing autism
(GARS)", (in Persian), Journal of Researchers of
Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences, 1(1), pp. 87-104
(2012).
46. Neuendorf, K.A. and Kumar, A. \Content analysis",
The International Encyclopedia of Political Communication
(2006).
47. Ri , D., Lacy, S., and Fico, F., Analyzing Media
Messages: Using Quantitative Content Analysis in
Research, Routledge (2014).
48. Rimland, B. and Edelson, S., Autism Treatment Evaluation
Checklist: Statistical Analyses, Autism Research
Institute (2000).
49. Bellini, S., Autism Social Skills Pro le, Shawnee Mission
(KS): Autism Asperger Publishing (2006).
50. Bellini, S. and Peters, J.K. \Social skills training
for youth with autism spectrum disorders", Child
and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America,
17(4), pp. 857-873 (2008).
51. Minitab 17 Statistical Software [Computer software],
State College, PA: Minitab, Inc. (www.minitab.com)
(2010).
52. Warren, Z.E., Zheng, Z., Swanson, A.R., Bekele, E.,
Zhang, L., Crittendon, J.A., and Sarkar, N. \Can
robotic interaction improve joint attention skills?",
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,
45(11), pp. 3726-3734 (2015).
53. Whalen, C. and Schreibman, L. \Joint attention training
for children with autism using behavior modi -
cation procedures", Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, 44(3), pp. 456-468 (2003).
54. Ingersoll, B. and Gergans, S. \The e ect of a parentimplemented
imitation intervention on spontaneous
imitation skills in young children with autism", Research
in Developmental Disabilities, 28(2), pp. 163-
175 (2007).
A. Taheri et al./Scientia Iranica, Transactions B: Mechanical Engineering 25 (2018) 1197{1214 1213
55. Ingersoll, B. and Schreibman, L. \Teaching reciprocal
imitation skills to young children with autism using
a naturalistic behavioral approach: E ects on language,
pretend play, and joint attention", Journal of
Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(4), pp. 487-
505 (2006).
56. Mundy, P., Delgado, C., Block, J., Venezia, M., Hogan,
A., and Seibert, J., Early Social Communication Scales
(ESCS), Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami (2003).
57. Kasari, C., Freeman, S., and Paparella, T. \Joint
attention and symbolic play in young children with
autism: A randomized controlled intervention study",
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(6), pp.
611-620 (2006).
58. Tapus, A., Peca, A., Aly, A., et al. \Children with
autism social engagement in interaction with Nao, an
imitative robot-A series of single case experiments",
Interaction Studies, 13(3), pp. 315-347 (2012).
59. Meghdari, A., Alemi, M., Ghaazisaidi, M., Taheri,
A.R., Karimian, A., and Vakili, M.Z. \Applying robots
as teaching assistant in EFL classes at Iranian middleschools",
Proc. of 2013 International Conference
on Education and Modern Educational Technologies,
Venice, Italy, Retrieved from www.europement.com
(2013, September).
60. Alemi, M., Meghdari, A., and Ghazisaedy, M. \The
impact of social robotics on L2 learners' anxiety and
attitude in English vocabulary acquisition", International
Journal of Social Robotics, 7(4), pp. 523-535
(2015).
61. Alemi, M., Ghanbarzadeh, A., Meghdari, A., and
Moghadam, L.J. \Clinical application of a humanoid
robot in pediatric cancer interventions", International
Journal of Social Robotics, 8(5), pp. 743-759 (2016).
62. Alemi, M., Meghdari, A., and Ghazisaedy, M. \Employing
humanoid robots for teaching English language
in Iranian junior high-schools", International Journal
of Humanoid Robotics, 11(03), p. 1450022 (2014).
63. Alemi, M., Meghdari, A., Mahboub Basiri, N., and
Taheri, A. \The e ect of applying humanoid robots
as teacher assistants to help Iranian autistic pupils
learn English as a foreign language", Lecture Notes in
Computer Science (LNCS): Social Robotics, 9388, pp.
1-10 (2015).
64. Sa ari, E., Meghdari, A., Vazirnezhad, B., and Alemi,
M. \Ava (a social robot): Design and performance
of a robotic hearing apparatus", Lecture Notes in
Computer Science (LNCS): Social Robotics, 9388, pp.
440-450 (2015).
65. Taheri, A.R., Meghdari, A., Alemi, M., Pouretemad,
H., Poorgoldooz, P., and Roohbakhsh, M. \Social
robots and teaching music to autistic children: Myth or
reality?", Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS):
Social Robotics, 9979, pp. 541-550 (2016).
66. Meghdari, A., Alemi, M., Pour, A.G., and Taheri,
A.R. \Spontaneous human-robot emotional interaction
through facial expressions", Lecture Notes in Computer
Science (LNCS): Social Robotics, 9979, pp. 351-
361 (2016).
67. Zakipour, M., Meghdari, A., and Alemi, M. \RASA: A
low-cost upper-torso social robot acting as a sign language
teaching assistant", Lecture Notes in Computer
Science (LNCS): Social Robotics, 9979, pp. 630-639
(2016).
68. Meghdari, A., Alemi, M., Khamooshi, M., Amoozandeh,
A., Shariati, A., and Mozafari, B. \Conceptual
design of a social robot for pediatric hospitals", In
2016 4th International Conference on Robotics and
Mechatronics (ICROM), pp. 566-571, IEEE (October
2016). DOI: 10.1109/ICRoM.2016.7886804
69. Meghdari, A., Bagheri Shouraki, S., Siamy, A.,
and Shariati, A. \The real-time facial imitation
by a social humanoid robot", In 2016 4th International
Conference on Robotics and Mechatronics
(ICROM), pp. 566-571, IEEE (October 2016). DOI:
10.1109/ICRoM.2016.7886797


Volume 25, Issue 3
Transactions on Mechanical Engineering (B)
May and June 2018
Pages 1197-1214
  • Receive Date: 25 June 2016
  • Revise Date: 02 December 2016
  • Accept Date: 20 May 2017