scholarly journals Virtual Voice Assistant Applications Improved Expressive Verbal Abilities and Social Interactions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Single-Subject Experimental Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed F Safi ◽  
Badriya Al Sadrani ◽  
Ashraf Mustafa
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Baseline Phase ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Interaction Skills ◽  
Interaction Skills

Abstract Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to have communication and social interaction deficits. Their impaired communication is derived from difficulties in acquiring language. The use of interactive technologies has been demonstrated to enhance verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as the social interaction tendencies of children with ASD. Artificial intelligence has played a growing role in the habilitation of children with ASD. However, little research exists on the possible roles and effectiveness of virtual voice assistants in developing language and social skills in children with ASD. This study examined the effects of using a voice assistant in children with ASD on two outcomes: speech skills (expressive verbal vocabulary and production of short phrases) and social interaction skills (playing/sharing). Methods: An interventional single-case design study was used to explore this concept using three children with ASD between the ages of 4 and 11 years. The participants used an accessible virtual voice assistant, Apple’s Siri, for three months. Pre- and post-intervention questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with mothers were administered to measure the communication and social interaction skills of the participating children. Results: Participant One, Two and Three showed a notable improvement in the total number of correct words produced with fewer attempts during the VVA intervention compared with the baseline phase. Further, all participants showed increases in the social interactions in the intervention phase, compared with the baseline phase. Finally, all the mothers noted improvement in their children’s speech intelligibility and social interactions. Conclusions: Results showed that the virtual voice assistant had positive effects on the speech and social interaction skills of children with ASD. The findings of this study implied that children with ASD can use readily available voice assistant software to improve their speech and social interaction skills. Furthermore, this study’s findings could be used to develop strategies to increase the availability of artificial intelligence infrastructure in schools and homes to help children with ASD.

Self-regulation and social interaction skills among children with autism across time

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 271-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Barnard-Brak ◽  
Julie Ivey-Hatz ◽  
Angela Kris Ward ◽  
Tianlan Wei
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
The Self ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Social Interaction Skills ◽  
Interaction Skills

Purpose – In the current study, the purpose of this paper is to examine the self-regulation and social interaction skills of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as compared to children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) across time. Design/methodology/approach – Drawn from the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS), our sample consisted of 1,016 children diagnosed with ASD and 597 children diagnosed with ID. The self-regulation and social interaction skills were measured using relevant subscales of the Scales of Independent Behavior-Revised across three time points evenly spaced at two years apart. Findings – Results revealed that children with ASD have significantly worse self-regulation (p<0.01, η2=0.12, Cohen's f=0.36) and social interaction skills (p<0.01, η2=0.05, Cohen's f=0.21) as compared to children with ID across time. The results of the current study support the results of Bieberich and Morgan (2004) that children with ASD have significantly worse self-regulation and social interaction skills as compared to children with ID across time. Originality/value – The paper suggests that our results may be considered as more generalizable given the utilization of data from the SEELS as a large, nationally representative, and community-based sample of children with disabilities across the USA examined longitudinally.

scholarly journals Optimlisasi Kemampuan Interaksi Sosial Anak di PAUD Inklusi Ahsanu Amala Yogyakarta

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-26
Author(s):  
Nadlifah Nadlifah
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
School Environment ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
The Right ◽  
Social Interaction Skills ◽  
Interaction Skills

Education is a social process that can't happen without interaction between individuals Learning is a personal and social proccess when the child is in touch with other children in building understanding and knowledge together. Generally, Early Childhood have a low social interactions skill. This is evidenced by the frequent fights with his friend and selfish. Similarly in general, children who have mental disorders such as children with autism, Down syndrome, the hearing impaired etc, has the low skill ability in social interaction and communication. children who have maximum social interaction skills will be easier to be accepted in the school environment, especially in a classroom environment. Therefore it the children of inclusion is still an early age need to be assisted in improving the ability of social interactions at school, because the period of early childhood is a period of development the right to develop, improve and optimize all the capabilities of a child, even this period is an effective time to train and familiarize children to develop social interaction skills of children.

scholarly journals A Pilot Study Using Two Novel fMRI Tasks: Understanding Theory of Mind and Emotion Recognition Among Children With ASD

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Han ◽  
Patricia A. Prelock ◽  
Emily L. Coderre ◽  
Joseph M. Orr
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Emotion Recognition ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Neuroimaging Data

AbstractChildren with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) struggle with social interactions due to deficits in theory of mind (ToM). In this study, we collected behavioral and neuroimaging data from 9 children with ASD and 19 neurotypical children between the age of 7 and 14 years old, particularly in the area of emotion recognition to better understand those skills needed for meaningful social interaction. The results suggest impaired abilities in multiple ToM metrics and brain deficits associated with ToM-related emotion recognition and processing among children with ASD. Findings from this study are expected to establish connections between behavior and brain activities surrounding ToM in ASD, which may assist the development of neuroanatomical diagnostic criteria and provide a way to measure intervention outcomes.

scholarly journals Social Synchronization During Joint Attention in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qinyi Liu ◽  
Qiandong Wang ◽  
Xue Li ◽  
Xiaoyun Gong ◽  
Xuerong Luo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Joint Attention ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Gaze Shift ◽  
Female Model ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
The Social

Abstract Background: This study examined the social synchronization in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when responding to others’ joint attention. Social synchronization refers to an individuals’ temporal coordination during social interactions, which has been found to play a crucial role in social development. Deficient joint attention has been repeatedly found in individuals with autism spectrum disorder, and previous studies have demonstrated various explanations about it. In a more recent perspective, joint attention could be associated with spontaneous social motor synchronization, and it is possible to explore social synchronization as a pathway to understanding the impairments of joint attention in children with ASD.Methods: Forty-one children aged 5 to 8 with ASD and 43 age-matched typically developing (TD) children watched a video to completed the response to joint attention (RJA) tasks, during which their gaze data were collected. The synchronization of gaze-shift behaviors between children and the female model in the video was measured with the cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA). Results: We found that children with ASD had the ability, to some extent, to synchronize their gaze shifts with the female model in the video during RJA tasks. However, compared to the TD children, children with ASD displayed lower levels of synchronization and longer latency in this synchronized behavior. Limitations: The RJA task in our study was not a real social interaction task but rather a one-way interaction. Social interaction between two persons through live video or a natural scenario should be further explored. Besides, additional work is necessary to determine whether our findings generalize to individuals across the full autism spectrum. Conclusion: These findings provide a new avenue to deepen our understanding of the impairments of joint attention in children with ASD. Notably, the analytic method can be further applied to explore the social synchronization of numerous other social interactive behaviors in ASD. Additionally, the impairment of social synchronization may be a new implicit indicator for the evaluation of autism and can be utilized to screen children with ASD along with other indicators.

scholarly journals Enhancement of psychomotor skills in children with autism spectrum disorder by employing a mechatronic training kit

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramya S. Moorthy ◽  
Kritika Iyer ◽  
R. Hari Krishnan ◽  
S. Pugazhenthi
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Psychomotor Skills ◽  
The Social ◽  
Skill Deficits ◽  
Hand Coordination

AbstractPrevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in children has been increasing over the years. These children, when compared to typically growing children, face challenges in leading a day-to-day life. Other than the social interactions, communication and cognitive skills, psychomotor skill deficits are also found in them. This paper focuses on enhancement of psychomotor skills in children with ASD by employing a mechatronic training kit. Training using this kit aims at developing skills like ‘palmar grasp’, ‘wrist rotation’ and ‘eye-hand coordination’. Trials were conducted with six children with autism aged between four and nine years. Significant improvements were seen in these children both in skills and in behaviour after the training. Thus, teaching psychomotor skills to children with autism using the newly developed mechatronic door training kit is found to be working and the results are encouraging.

scholarly journals Investigating SOcial Competence and Isolation in children with Autism taking part in LEGO-based therapy clubs In School Environments (I-SOCIALISE): study protocol

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. e030471
Author(s):  
Danielle Varley ◽  
Barry Wright ◽  
Cindy Cooper ◽  
David Marshall ◽  
Katie Biggs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Skills ◽  
Usual Care ◽  
Peer Relationships ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
School Level ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
The Social

IntroductionSocial skills training interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically focus on a skills deficit model rather than building on existing skills or encouraging the child to seek their own solutions. LEGO-based therapy is a child-oriented intervention to help improve social interactional skills and reduce isolation. The therapy is designed for school-age children with ASD and uses group-based play in a school setting to encourage peer relationships and social learning. Despite the reported potential benefits of LEGO-based therapy in a prior randomised controlled trial (RCT) and its adoption by many schools, the evidence to support its effectiveness on the social and emotional well-being of children with ASD is limited and includes no assessment of cost-effectiveness.Methods and analysisThis multicentre, pragmatic, cluster RCT will randomise 240 participants (aged 7–15 years) with a clinical diagnosis of ASD to receive usual care or LEGO-based therapy with usual care. Cluster randomisation will be conducted on a school level, randomising each school as opposed to each individual child within a school. All prospective participants will be screened for eligibility before assenting to the study (with parents giving informed consent on behalf of their child). All participants will be followed up at 20 and 52 weeks after randomisation to assess for social, emotional and behavioural changes. The primary outcome measure is the social skills subscale of the Social Skills Improvement System completed by a teacher or teaching assistant associated with participating children at the 20-week follow-up time point.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval has been obtained via the University of York Research Ethics Committee. The results of the trial will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and will be disseminated to participating families, education practitioners and the third sector including voluntary and community organisations.Trial registration numberISRCTN64852382; Pre-results.

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