So Wing-Chee, Law Wing-Wun, Cheng Chun-Ho, Lee Cassandra, Ng Ka-Ching, Kwok Fai-Yeung, Lam Ho-Wai, Lam Ka-Yee
Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2023 May 5;14:1114907. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1114907. eCollection 2023.
Children with autism have impairments in initiation of joint attention (IJA) and response to joint attention (RJA).
The present study compared the learning effectiveness of robot-based intervention (RBI) with that of content-matched human-based intervention (HBI) in improving joint attention (JA). We examined whether RBI would enhance RJA, in comparison to HBI. We also examined whether RBI would increase IJA, in comparison to HBI.
Thirty-eight Chinese-speaking children with autism aged 6 to 9 years were randomly assigned to RBI and HBI groups. Before intervention, their autism severity, cognitive abilities, and language skills were assessed. Each child received six 30-min training sessions over 3 weeks. During training, he/she watched one or two robot/human dramas twice where two robot/human actors demonstrated eye contact and RJA.
Children in the RBI (but not HBI) group produced more RJA and IJA behaviors in the delayed post-test than in the pre-test. Parents of the RBI children rated the program more positively than those of the HBI children.
RBI may be more effective than HBI in promoting JA in autistic children with high support needs. Our findings shed light on the application of robot dramas in enhancing social communication skills.
自闭症儿童在发起共同注意（IJA）和回应共同注意（RJA）方面存在缺陷。
本研究比较了基于机器人的干预（RBI）与内容匹配的基于人类的干预（HBI）在改善共同注意（JA）方面的学习效果。我们研究了与HBI相比，RBI是否会增强RJA。我们还研究了与HBI相比，RBI是否会增加IJA。
38名6至9岁讲中文的自闭症儿童被随机分配到RBI组和HBI组。在干预前，评估他们的自闭症严重程度、认知能力和语言技能。每个孩子在3周内接受6次每次30分钟的训练课程。在训练期间，他/她观看一到两部机器人/人类短剧两次，其中两个机器人/人类演员展示眼神交流和RJA。
RBI组（而非HBI组）的儿童在延迟后测中比前测产生了更多的RJA和IJA行为。RBI组儿童的家长对该项目的评价比HBI组儿童的家长更积极。
在促进对支持需求较高的自闭症儿童的JA方面，RBI可能比HBI更有效。我们的研究结果为机器人短剧在提高社会沟通技能方面的应用提供了启示。
