RObot Supported Education for children with ASD

Children with autism often face challenges in developing effective communication and social skills. In the ROSA project, social robots are used as a tool to teach children with autism and developmental disabilities language and communication skills combined with social skills. Social robots have special characteristics, such as a human-like physical bodies, which distinguish them from other learning technologies. Many children with autism develop a strong interest for such robots, which can help maintain focus and attention, thereby providing better conditions for learning. This research is interdisciplinary and combines knowledge of the robot’s capabilities with expertise in special education, focusing on the education of children with autism, as well as knowledge in the development of digital learning tools. We use an iterative and user-centered approach involving students, practitioners, and other stakeholders. Adapting to the school praxis and a real usage context is important for ensuring that the results are relevant both after the project and for other schools in Norway. The project also emphasizes examining the ethical aspects of using social robots in the education of children with autism. To capture the voices and perspectives of children with limited communication skills, the project has explored the use of digital storytelling as a data collection method. The project has developed the ROSA solution, which consists of a repertoire of tools and activities that can be run on different social robots in combination with tablets. The ROSA solutions include both pre-developed games and exercises, as well as a remote-control function that teachers can use freely to support, for example, dialogue with the robot and personalized and engaging activities. Teachers can use the repertoire to create a teaching plan tailored to the needs and interests of each child. The goal is to contribute to variation and motivation for learning and to provide schools with better learning resources to support the child’s developmental goals. To assess the effects of the ROSA solution, students’ communication and social skills must be evaluated before and after the use of the activity repertoire with the robot. After studying and comparing various assessment tools, the choice fell on SCERTS, which stands for Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, and Transactional Support. The project has spent time translating this into Norwegian language adapted for use at Frydenhaug School. The ROSA solution was piloted in the spring of 2024 with 5 children. The focus was on examining how the ROSA solution worked in a real learning context. Several improvements were made after this pilot. A new pilot trial will be conducted in the fall of 2024, over 3-4 weeks with up to 12 children and approximately one session per week per child, along with a pre- and post-assessment using SCERTS with each child. This pilot also includes an evaluation setup using video analysis. The plan is to conduct a main study over approximately two months in 2025, with around 50 testing instances. During the period between the second pilot and the main study, teachers can continue to use the robot and the repertoire with the children who wish to, so that the transition period is not perceived negatively by the children who miss the robot. This will also simulate real use of the robot and the repertoire after the project ends. Frydenhaug School has also planned how SCERTS will be used beyond the scope of the project thanks to the work in the pilots. Norsk Regnesentral, with its expertise in social robots and digital inclusion, leads the project. The work is carried out in close collaboration with Frydenhaug School in Drammen Municipality, the University of South-Eastern Norway, the University of Birmingham, as well as the companies Innocom AS and Cyberbook AS.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are characterized by behaviors that pose challenges to developing communication and social skills. The project aims to use social robots to teach language skills combined with social and communication skills to children with ASD. The project will create and evaluate the RObot Supported education for children with ASD (ROSA) toolbox with three parts: Content Creator, for easily creating tailored one-on-one lessons for the unique needs of each child with ASD; Robot Software runs lesson content customized to the robot's capabilities; and Review, for following progress and input for the next lesson. Rosa toolbox targets no specific robot, but content will adjust to a robot's capabilities. The project employs a sociocultural approach with experts in social robotics, education, and ASD and conduct technological and interdisciplinary research in abstracting robot capabilities, robot-assisted language learning, customizing and personalizing technology for education, and education content for children with ASD. The final prototype will be evaluated in a year-long trial with over 50 children with ASD using the social robot in sessions at school several times a week. The children's language, social, and communication abilities will be compared to at least 50 children with ASD from previous years not in the trial. Items measured include children's motivation and engagement when working during the sessions. Quantitative and qualitative methods will be used and ethical challenges related to use of social robots for children with ASD will be addressed. Beyond helping children with ASD develop skills, the project will create knowledge about how the effect of embodiment, social robots, language learning, robot training, how social robots can improve language, communication and social skills of children with ASD. The toolbox can be further developed and commercialized to include other content and target other groups for learning.