Robots Teach Autistic Kids Social Skills

posys writes "Wired Magazine has an article showing how the eternal patience of robots lends itself well to teaching new social skills to autistic children. 'The researchers hope that the end result is a human-like robot that can act as a "social mediator" for autistic children, a steppingstone to improved social interaction with other children and adults. "KASPAR provides autistic children with reliability and predictability. Since there are no surprises, they feel safe and secure," Robins said, adding that the purpose is not to replace human interaction and contact but to enhance it. Robins has already tested some imitation and turn-taking games with the children and his preliminary findings are positive.'"

Comments

Ummm

[Bombula]

Am I the only one who finds the idea of robots teaching autistic children to be social slightly ironic?

Re:Ummm

[$RANDOMLUSER]

It just means we'll have a bunch of slightly-more-social-than-usual autistic kids who speak with a robotic voice.

Who offer to let you bite their shiny metal ass.

Next: Teaching Social Skills to Slashdot Reader

[Cr0w T. Trollbot]

Slashdoter: "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!"

Robot: "Women are not impressed by your vast array of Monty Python Quotes."

Slashdoter: "I'll bite your kneecaps off!"

Robot: "Women are not impressed by your vast array of Monty Python Quotes."

Slashdotter: "It's merely resting, pining for the fjords."

Robot: "Women are not impressed by your vast array of Monty Python Quotes."

Next week: Watch the Robot attempt to disuade the Slashdotter from using an "In Soviet Russia" joke.

Slashdoter: "In Soviet Russia, robot programs you!"

Robot: "I'm just not getting through to you, am I?"

Crow T. Trollbot

Re:Waste of effort

[datapharmer]

That is incredibly ignorant. I have known several autistic people and have befriended a couple and I have seen MAJOR improvements after just being patient and excusing their inappropriate reactions and eccentricities. Just recognizing when they say something funny or make an appropriate social reaction to an event and brushing off the rest without being critical led one kid I know to grow up and live a very normal life. He comes off as a little eccentric to people when they first meet him, but his autism makes him a bit obsessive which actually makes him a great worker in fields which require insane levels of concentration and attention to detail (like engineering) because he really gets into whatever he likes.

Autism does not mean stupid and does not mean broken. Autism comes in many different levels of severity and type and people with autism can be a huge asset to society, thus the time spent educating them in social graces is money well spent.

It's hard to judge mental capacity in the autistic

[benhocking]

I've known several autistic children, and you might be surprised at what some of them know. Now, granted, there are often other developmental disorders that accompany autism, but what you interpret as reduced mental capacity might be reduced motivation. I knew one kid that had almost no verbal skills and was thought to be very unaware of his surroundings, but when the right motivators were found it was revealed that he knew the names of everyone around him and much more. (Of course, he's still most likely developmentally delayed.)

That said, I agree that the robot could be extremely helpful. For many children with autism it might turn out to be the right motivator.

Huh?

[Das Auge]

That's even worse than having a eunuch teach me about sex.

Words of caution

[scaz]

While the use of robots with children with autism has generated intense interest from a variety of research groups (mine included), one thing that the media often leaves out when reporting these stories is that these studies are still experimental. There have been no published studies to date that show long-term behavioral change following interaction trials with robots, only one case study that has looked at long-term effects of these interactions, and no studies that have shown any transfer of skills from human-robot interaction to human-human interaction.

Every time an article like this is published, my office and my colleagues are barraged with requests from individuals, families, and educators looking for the robot that will "cure" autism. While everyone working in this area has great hopes for what is possible, we don't yet have any clinical or experimental data to support any claims of effectiveness.