<p>Cilj rada je da se utvrde potrebe dece i mladih bez roditeljskog staranja za<br />primenom modela programa učenja socijalnih ve&scaron;tina u funkciji razvijanja njihove socijalne<br />kompetentnosti i boljeg socijalnog funkcionisanja. Ovako definisan op&scaron;ti cilj<br />operacionalizovan je kroz određene teorijske i empirijske celine rada.<br />U prvom poglavlju teorijskog dela izložen je koncept socijalne kompetentnosti kroz<br />opis razvoja ovog koncepta i prikaz integrativnog modela socijalne kompetentnosti koji<br />pretpostavlja sagledavanje socijalne kompetentnosti na vi&scaron;e nivoa. Rukovođeni ovim<br />modelom, detaljnije smo prikazali determinante i korelate socijalne kompetentnosti koji se<br />odnose, sa jedne strane, na različite pokazatelje socijalnog funkcionisanja, a sa druge, na<br />socijalne ve&scaron;tine. Po&scaron;to je model programa razvijanja socijalnih ve&scaron;tina potrebno prilagoditi<br />ciljnoj grupi korisnika, ali i kontekstu obuke, posebna teorijska celina odnosila se na bliži opis<br />i definisanje pojma deca i mladi bez roditeljskog staranja. Polazeći od ekolo&scaron;kog pristupa, u<br />ovom poglavlju prikazana su teorijska i empirijska saznanja o uzrocima i faktorima<br />porodičnih odnosa koji utiču na razvoj i socijalno funkcionisanje dece i mladih, kao i oblici<br />socijalne za&scaron;tite dece i mladih bez roditeljskog staranja. U poslednjem teorijskom poglavlju,<br />opisane su karakteristike institucionalne za&scaron;tite, odnosno kontekst u kojem žive i dalje se<br />razvijaju deca i mladi bez roditeljskog staranja. Dat je prikaz dosada&scaron;njih istraživanja o<br />socijalnim odnosima i funkcionisanju dece i mladih u institucijama. Na ovaj način, kroz tri<br />teorijska poglavlja, polazaći od integrativnog modela socijalne kompetentnosti sagledani su<br />različiti pokazatelji socijalne kompetentnosti, njihove determinante i korelati, te diskutovani<br />protektivni i rizični faktori razvijanja socijalne kompetentnosti dece i mladih bez roditeljskog<br />staranja u institucionalnom kontekstu.<br />U empirijskom delu rada prvo je sagledana socijalna kompetentnost dece i mladih bez<br />roditeljskog staranja preko pokazatelja njihovog socijalnog funkcionisanja, a zatim sa aspekta<br />razvijenosti socijalnih ve&scaron;tina. Na oba nivoa analize, posebno su sagledane razlike u odnosu<br />na intelektualni i porodični status dece. Za procenu različitih pokazatelja socijalnog<br />funkcionisanja dece i mladih kori&scaron;ćene su: Skala oblika problematičnog pona&scaron;anja (Gresham,<br />Elliott,1990), Skala snage i te&scaron;koće (Goodman, 1997) i Upitnik načina re&scaron;avanja konflikata<br />(Rahim, 1983a). Za ispitivanje razvijenosti socijalnih ve&scaron;tina dece i mladih primenjene su Ček<br />lista socijalnih ve&scaron;tina (Goldstein et al., 1998) i Skala socijalnih ve&scaron;tina (Gresham &amp;<br />Elliott,1990). Ukupan uzorak činilo je 416 dece i mladih uzrasta od 12 do 18 godina, od toga<br />v<br />210 bez roditeljskog staranja i 206 sa roditeljskim staranjem. Poduzorci u komparativnoj<br />grupi dece i mladih sa roditeljskim staranjem bili su ujednačeni sa poduzorcima dece i mladih<br />bez roditeljskog staranja u odnosu na intelektualni status, pol, uzrast, sredinu i &scaron;kolski uspeh.<br />Rezultati prve faze istraživanja su pokazali da deca i mladi bez roditeljskog staranja<br />imaju slabije razvijene socijalne ve&scaron;tine i lo&scaron;ije socijalno funkcioni&scaron;u od dece i mladih sa<br />roditeljskim staranjem. Potvrđeno je da roditeljsko staranje ima značajniji uticaj na socijalnu<br />kompetentnost dece i mladih nego intelektualni status. Druga faza istraživanja se odnosila na<br />utvrđivanje povezanosti pokazatelja socijalnog funkcionisanja i razvijenosti ispitivanih<br />socijalnih ve&scaron;tina u cilju koncipiranja modela programa razvijanja socijalne kompetentnosti<br />dece i mladih bez roditeljskog staranja. Pored toga, ispitana je i povezanost institucionalnih<br />varijabli, kao i karakteristike dece i mladih sa pokazateljima njihove socijalne kompetentnosti.<br />Nalazi o visokoj povezanosti socijalnih ve&scaron;tina sa pokazateljima socijalnog funkcionisanja,<br />kao i visoka povezanost određenih varijabli institucionalne za&scaron;tite i karakteristika dece i<br />mladih bez roditeljskog staranja sa njihovim socijalnim kompetencijama, potvdili su teorijski<br />koncept iz područja socijalne kompetentnosti.<br />U delu pedago&scaron;kih implikacija dat je model programa učenja socijalnih ve&scaron;tina koje<br />mogu doprineti razvijanju socijalne kompetentnosti i efikasnijem socijalnom funkcionisanju<br />dece i mladih bez roditeljskog staranja, kao i preporuke vezane za institucionalni kontekst<br />obuke. Takođe, ponuđeni model programa pruža mogućnost daljih istraživanja u ovoj oblasti<br />vezanih za evaluaciju efekata ovako koncipiranog programa i njegove realizacije u uslovima<br />institucionalne za&scaron;tite, kao i pitanja same kompetentnosti i edukacije kadra za primenu<br />programa.</p> / <p>The aim of the work is finding out the needs of children and young people<br />without parental care and the implication of a modular programme for learning social skills<br />with the function of development of their social competency and better social functioning.<br />Defined in this way, the general aim has become operative through certain theoretical and<br />empirical parts of the work.<br />The first chapter of the theoretical part deals with the concept of social competency<br />through the description of development of this concept and the view of Integrative model of<br />social competency which includes the insight of social competency in several levels. Guided<br />by this model, we presented the determinants and the correlates of social competency relating<br />to different signposts of social functioning on one side, and social skills on the other. Since<br />the model of development programme of social skills needs to be adjusted to the target group<br />of users, and also to the context of the training, a specific theoretical part related to the closer<br />description and definition of the term children and young people without parental care.<br />Starting from the ecological point ,this chapter shows the theoretical and empirical knowledge<br />of the causes and the factors of family relations which have impact on developement and<br />social functioning of children and young people without parental care. The last theoretical<br />chapter deals with the institutional protection, that is the context where children and young<br />people without parental care continue to live and develop .There has been given a review of<br />the recent research on social relations and functioning of children and young people in<br />institutions. In this way, through the three theoretical chapters, starting from the Integrative<br />model of social competency, different indicators of social competency have been considered,<br />their determinants and correlates, and there have been discussed the protective and risky<br />factors of social competency development with children and young people without parental<br />care in the institutional context.<br />In the empirical part of the work first social competency of children and young people<br />without parental care has been reviewed through the indicators of their social functioning and<br />then from the aspect of their social skills. Both levels of the analyses consider the differences<br />relating the intellectual and family status of children. For the evaluation of different indicators<br />of social functioning of children and young people we used: Scale of forms of problematic<br />behaviour (Gresham, Elliott,1990, Scale of strength and difficulty, (Goodman, 1997) and the<br />Questionnaire for ways of solving problems (Rahim, 1983). For the research of social skills of<br />vii<br />children and young people we have applied Check list of social skills (Goldstein &amp; Glick<br />1987) and Scale of social skills (Gresham &amp; Elliott,1990). The total sample consisted of 416<br />children and young people of the age 12 to 18 years, out of which 210 without parental care<br />and 206 with parental care. The subsamples in the comparative group of children and young<br />people with parental care were identical to the subsamples of children and young people<br />without parental care, considering the intellectual status, sex, age and school achievement.<br />The results of the first phase of research showed that children and young people<br />without parental care have less developed social skills and weaker social functioning than<br />children and young people with parental care. It has been confirmed that parental care has a<br />more significant impact on social competency of children and young people than intellectual<br />status. The second phase of research related to stating the connections between the indicators<br />of social functioning and development of the studied social skills with the aim of making a<br />concept for a model programme of social competency development of children and young<br />people without parental care. It has also been studied the connection among institutional<br />variables, as well as the characteristics of children and young people with indicators of their<br />social competency. The evidences of strong connections of social skills with indicators of<br />social functioning, as well as strong connection of certain variables of institutional care and<br />characteristics of children and young people without parental care with their social<br />competency, have confirmed the theoretical concept from the area of social competency.<br />In the part dealing with the pedagogical implications there has been given a model of a<br />programme for learning social skills which can contribute to the development of social<br />competency and a more efficient social functioning of children and young people without<br />parental care, as well as the references connected to the institutional context of the training.<br />The presented model of the programme also offers a possibility of further research in this<br />area, connected to the evaluation of effects of a programme concepted in such a way and its<br />realisation in the conditions of institutional protection, as well as the issues of the very<br />competency and education of people for implementing the programme.</p>

This paper discusses the design, implementation, and evaluation of a serious game intended to reinforce applied behavior analysis (ABA) techniques used with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by providing a low cost and easily accessible supplement to traditional methods. Past and recent research strongly supports the use of computer assisted instruction in the education of individuals with ASD (Moore & Calvert, 2000; Noor, Shahbodin, & Pee, 2012). Computer games have been shown to boost confidence and provide calming mechanisms (Griffiths, 2003) while being a safe environment for social exploration and learning (Moore, Cheng, McGrath, & Powell, 2005). Games increase children's motivation and thus increase the rate of learning in computer mediated environments (Moore & Calvert, 2000). Furthermore, children with ASD are able to understand basic emotions and facial expressions in avatars more easily than in real-world interactions (Moore, Cheng, McGrath, & Powell, 2005). Perspective-taking (also known as role-taking) has been shown to be a crucial component and antecedent to empathy (Gomez-Becerra, Martin, Chavez-Brown, & Greer, 2007; Peng, Lee, & Heeter, 2010). Though symptoms vary across children with ASD, perspective-taking and empathy are abilities that have been shown to be limited across a wide spectrum of individuals with ASD and Asperger's disorder (Gomez-Becerra, Martin, Chavez-Brown, & Greer, 2007). A game called WUBeeS was developed to aid young children with ASD in perspective taking and empathy by placing the player in the role of a caregiver to a virtual avatar. It is hypothesized that through the playing of this game over a series of trials, children with ASD will show an iv increase in the ability to discriminate emotions, provide appropriate responses to basic needs (e.g. feeding the avatar when it is hungry), and be able to communicate more clearly about emotions.

Dissertation is focused on the issue of institutional care in the Czech Republic. The main focus of this work are children's homes, education and socialization of children placed in this type of residential care. The aim of the theoretical part is to describe the characteristics of subjects of institutional care in the Czech Republic. Furthermore, to compare institutional care with selected countries and describe the child's socialization in the family and at school. A historical overview of institutional care in the Czech Republic is also described, and in conclusion the author deals with a specific description of the social inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in the teaching process at primary school. The empirical part reports on the research and its results obtained by qualitative methodology using case study design. The main goal of the research was to find out how children from a children's home are integrated into the teaching process at primary school. Furthermore, the author set several partial goals. The first partial goal was to find out how children from a children's home are integrated by children growing up in biological families into the class group at primary school. The second partial goal was to find out how children from a children's home are involved in the...

Robot assisted therapy is becoming increasingly popular. Research has proven it can be of benefit to persons dealing with a variety of disorders, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and it can also provide a source of emotional support e.g. to persons living in seniors’ residences. The advancement in technology and a decrease in cost of products related to consumer electronics, computing and communication has enabled the development of more advanced social robots at a lower cost. This brings us closer to developing such tools at a price that makes them affordable to lower income individuals and families. Currently, in several cases, intensive treatment for patients with certain disorders (to the level of becoming effective) is practically not possible through the public health system due to resource limitations and a large existing backlog. Pursuing treatment through the private sector is expensive and unattainable for those with a lower income, placing them at a disadvantage. Design and effective integration of technology, such as using social robots in treatment, reduces the cost considerably, potentially making it financially accessible to lower income individuals and families in need. The Objective of the research reported in this manuscript is to design and implement a social robot that meets the low-cost criteria, while also containing the required functions to support children with ASD. The design considered contains knowledge acquired in the past through research involving the use of various types of technology for the treatment of mental and/or emotional disabilities.