A comunicação humana é essencial para que ocorra um processo de interação social. É através dela que os sujeitos podem manifestar suas vontades, desejos, necessidades, estabelecer trocas que resultam em processos de ensino-aprendizagem e participar ativamente da sociedade, comunidade na qual se encontra inserido realizando trocas recíprocas que propiciam a aquisição do conhecimento historicamente construído. Esta pesquisa teve como foco principal investigar de que de que forma o uso de um sistema de CA que parte de uma perspectiva metodológica sócio-histórica pode promover o desenvolvimento de gestos que propiciam intencionalidade comunicativa em crianças de 03 a 05 anos com autismo. A presente pesquisa cunhou-se como um estudo de caso múltiplo de três sujeitos com autismo, não oralizados, com idades entre 03 e 05 anos de idade. Os resultados a serem apresentados mostram que o sistema SCALA contribuiu como forma constante de mediação integrada ao todo do sujeito. Dessa forma foram surgindo novos gestos, fomos significando cada olhar, apontar, sorrir, morder, etc. Considerando nossos sujeitos como agentes intencionais, deixando-os serem atores nas interações, não somente interagentes passivos, ancorados pelo uso de materiais concretos, que levaram a ligação entre o representacional e o simbólico e, sobretudo nos conduziram a diversos e diferentes momentos de atenção e cenas de atenção conjunta, onde nossos sujeitos participavam de interações triádicas e se incluíam nelas. / Human communication is essential to the occurrence of a social interaction process. It is through it that subjects can express their wishes, desires, needs and establish exchanges that result in teaching-learning processes. And, also, actively participate in society, the community in which they are inserted, conducting reciprocal exchanges that foster the acquisition of historically constructed knowledge. This research main focus was to investigate how the use of a CA system that starts from a sociohistorical methodological perspective can promote the development of gestures that provide communicative intentionality in children 03-05 years old with autism. This research was coined as a multiple case study of three subjects with autism, who do not use oral language, aged between 03 and 05 years of age. The results to be presented show that the SCALA system contributed steadily as integrated mediation into the subject as a whole. Thus new gestures started to arise, we gave meaning to each look, point, laugh, biting, etc. Considering our subjects as intentional agents, leaving them to be actors in interactions, not only passive interacting agents, anchored by the use of concrete materials, which led the connection between the representational and the symbolic and above all led us to several different moments of attention and joint attention scenes where our subjects participated in triadic interactions and included themselves in these interactions.

Early interactions between parents and infants are thought to be critical of later development. In particular joint attention has been an area of research and investigations. This study sought to measure joint attention behaviors in infants from 5 to 33 weeks of age under naturalistic conditions: in the home with the mother as the interaction partner given no instructions. Videotapes of the infant-parent interactions were observed and data were collected on behaviors related to joint attention. Given observations occur at younger ages than other studies considered, engagement data results indicate increasing trends for 3 of the 5 infants observed while the direction of infant gaze results indicate patterns consistent with descriptions currently in the literature. Parent behavior data indicate high levels of support in engaging infant attention. Furthering an understanding of joint attention by observing at earlier ages in infant development may be useful in informing teaching programs for infants who have not developed joint attention skills.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of a robot (Troy) in a low-dose treatment protocol for two children with Autism Spectrum disorder. The efficacy of intervention was measured by comparing social engagement in two contexts: interactions with two adults and interaction with an unfamiliar adult. During the treatment, a robot was included in pseudo-triadic interactions with the clinician and the child. The robot was programmed to perform simple actions that imitated the actions of the clinician in an effort to engage the child. These pseudo-triadic interactions were incorporated into intervention over the course of a 16-session intervention program. Each child's social engagement was assessed pre-intervention as well as post-intervention in the context of symbolic play in a triad and interaction with an unfamiliar adult. These pre-and post-intervention levels of social engagement were compared in order to detect significant gains after the intervention program with the robot. An increase in both participants' engaged behaviors during post-assessment measures was observed. One participant demonstrated significantly more engaged behaviors than the other.

This study examined the use of a humanoid robot to engage two children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on responding language behaviors including language, affect, imitation, and eye contact. The robot was integrated into each child's regular intervention in low-doses (10 min of a 50 min session). The goal was to increase responding language behaviors in the children with their conversational partners. The two children participated in pre and post assessment sessions as well as 16 intervention sessions. The data from these sessions were coded into two main categories including how the children interacted (Initiating Engagement, Responding to Engagement, and Non-Engagement) and who the children interacted with (Robot Only and Both). Both children improved in response to the intervention indicating a relation between improved behavior and intervention with the robot.

This study focused on intervention using a humanoid robot to facilitate social engagement and joint attention in four children with autism. Intervention was conducted over a three month period, with each child receiving pre-testing, intervention, and post-testing. Intervention was based on the SCERTS model (Prizant, Wetherby, Rubin, & Laurent, 2003). Pre- and post-testing involved interactions with a parent, a familiar adult interaction, a less-familiar adult interaction, and a triadic interaction. This study focuses on the baseline and follow-up testing from the interaction with the familiar adult. Following a period of traditional intervention, sessions involving a humanoid robot (named Troy) were conducted. The robot was integrated into the therapy in a low dose model, meaning that during a 50-minute therapy session, approximately 10 minutes were designated to interactions using the robot to facilitate the interaction. Pre- and post-intervention assessments were recorded, analyzed, and coded for social engagement behaviors. Results comparing baseline to follow-up assessments of the interactions with the familiar adult indicated that the most notable changes were observed in reciprocal action and eye contact. Little change was noted in initiation of social engagement, symbolic play, and language. The implications of these results are discussed and recommendations for future research are provided.

This study examined the effects of low dose exposure to a humanoid robot on the social engagement skills of four children with autism during select activities with a familiar adult. Participants included two males and two females who ranged in age from four to nine at the commencement of the study. The current study was part of a larger investigation focused on the effect of exposure to a robot on social engagement with a variety of social partners and situations. Children participated in variable multiple baseline sessions followed by a varied number of sessions of traditional treatment. After traditional treatment, the children participated in 40 minutes of traditional intervention paired with 10 minutes of exposure to a robot designed to elicit social communication skills. The final sessions consisted of follow up assessments. Pre- and posttreatment data were compared and analyzed. Results showed variable performance for each of the participants. Findings and areas of future research are discussed.

The current study was part of a larger work investigating the effects of intervention incorporating a robot on the social engagement behaviors of children with autism. The larger study implemented a single-subject, multiple-baseline research design in which four children with autism participated in baseline sessions, traditional intervention, intervention including a robot, and follow-up sessions. The current study focused on the participant's responses to directives from the clinician and the parent during collaborative activities that included the robot. Children's responses were analyzed to determine if they responded to directives without assistance, responded with hand-over-hand assistance, or did not comply. Sessions were complex and required the development of a detailed analysis system to ensure fidelity. Overall results were highly variable but showed gains in one child. Clinical observation suggested that all four children benefited from their exposure to the robot, particularly with regards to regulation. Although variable, the results of this study suggest potential for the promotion and generalization of a child's ability to respond to social engagement bids with other humans. Additional research should be conducted to establish the effectiveness of a robot in intervention in generalizing social engagement behaviors in children with autism.

No description available.

Behaviors related to joint attention have been described by behavior analysts and developmental psychologists alike as having a distinctly social function. Children with autism often do not emit these behaviors. Research on the collateral effects of teaching joint attention suggests far reaching consequences. Given the reported benefits of using these behaviors, and the theoretical descriptions of their function, we assessed joint attention as a collateral effect of a naturalistic parent training program. Data suggest that although these behaviors were not directly targeted, they increased in all 3 children. Implications of parent training goals and child intervention targets are discussed in terms of a behavior analysis of joint attention and child development.

Joint attention (JA) is the ability to coordinate attention between a conversation partner and an outside object, while being aware of the other’s attention. This study investigates JA in 14 parent-child dyads at the ages 0;9, 1;0, 1;3, 1;6, 1;9 and 2;0, and aims to examine how the initiation of JA develops with age, as well as the relationship between JA and later vocabulary size and syntactic level. The strategies for initiating JA were recorded for both parents and children, and the total amount of JA, as well as child-initiated JA, was calculated for each age point. The results show that children with a higher language level, calculated as a composite score of vocabulary at 4;0 and syntactic level at 3;0, spent on average more time in JA than children with a lower language level. In line with previous research, the present study found a positive relationship between JA and vocabulary. Furthermore, the results suggest a relationship between JA and syntactic development. Especially the amount of child-initiated JA was related to both vocabulary size at the age of 4;0 and syntactic level at the age of 3;0, which indicates the importance of this type of interaction for language acquisition. / Joint attention (JA) är förmågan att koordinera sin uppmärksamhet mellan en konversationspartner och ett tredje objekt, och samtidigt vara medveten om den andres uppmärksamhet. Den här studien undersöker JA i 14 förälder-barndyader vid åldrarna 0;9, 1;0, 1;3, 1;6, 1;9 och 2;0, med syftet att utröna hur initieringen av JA utvecklas med åldern, och hur relationen mellan JA och senare ordförrådsstorlek och syntaktisk nivå ser ut. Strategierna för att initiera JA undersöktes för både föräldrar och barn, och den totala mängden JA och barninitierad JA räknades för varje ålderspunkt. Resultaten visar att barn med en högre språklig nivå, räknat som kompositpoängen av vokabulär vid 4;0 och syntaktisk nivå vid 3;0, i genomsnitt spenderade mer tid i JA än barn med en lägre språklig nivå. I linje med tidigare forskning påvisade denna studie ett positivt samband mellan JA och ordförråd. Därutöver tyder resultaten på ett samband mellan JA och syntaktisk utveckling. Särskilt mängden barninitierad JA var positivt relaterad till både ordförråd vid 4;0 och syntaktisk nivå vid 3;0, vilket indikerar att denna typ av interaktion är viktig för språkutveckling. / Modelling infant language acquisition from parent-child interaction (MINT)