'Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)'
Doi
Abstract
The interaction and communication skills are essential
to live in society. However, individuals with autism spectrum
disorders (ASD) have a gap in these abilities which affects their
daily life. Previous studies suggest that children with ASD
demonstrate some positive behaviors in presence of a robotic
platform. This study intends to evaluate the effect of a robotic
platform on children with ASD, checking if the platform can be a
stimulating agent for children's interaction, as well as a skill
learning promoter. So, it is used the robot Lego Mindstorms NXT
as a mediator/reward to encourage children with ASD to interact
with others and also to learn some cognitive skills.The authors are grateful to teachers and students of the primary and secondary schools of Aver-o-Mar and their parents for their participation in the project. The authors are also grateful to the Portuguese Foundation for funding through the R&D project RIPD/ADA/109407/2009
