This study examined the effect of intervention involving a humanoid robot on challenging or tantrum behaviors of four children with low-functioning autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The current work was part of a larger study involving the effect of the robot on functional communication skills on a variety of different interactions with different communication partners. All participants took part in a single-subject, multiple-baseline design with various session types including baseline, traditional play-based treatment, treatment including the robot, and follow-up sessions. For the purpose of this study, only the sessions including treatment with the robot where the robot interaction occurred at the beginning or the end of a 50-minute session were analyzed. Six different categories of tantrum behaviors were analyzed during the sessions including: crying/screaming; self-distracting behaviors; biting, hair pulling, squeezing or pinching; throwing/shoving; and hitting/kicking. Results indicate that for 3 out of the 4 children, tantrum behaviors decreased when the robot interaction came at the beginning of the session. The fourth child showed minimal change in tantrum behaviors. To improve understanding of the influence of a robot on children with ASD, future research should be conducted to determine what aspects of the robot interaction would be most effective on reducing these behaviors.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BGMYU2/oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-7144 |
| Date | 01 December 2015 |
| Creators | Whitmer, Tayler Bodon |
| Publisher | BYU ScholarsArchive |
| Source Sets | Brigham Young University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/ |
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