Supporting the Education of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Yefim Kats Chestnut Hill College, USA A volume in the Advances in Early Childhood and K-12 Education (AECKE) Book Series Published in the United States of America by IGI Global Information Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global) 701 E. Chocolate Avenue Hershey PA, USA 17033 Tel: 717-533-8845 Fax: 717-533-8661 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: http://www.igi-global.com Copyright © 2017 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without written permission from the publisher. Product or company names used in this set are for identification purposes only. Inclusion of the names of the products or companies does not indicate a claim of ownership by IGI Global of the trademark or registered trademark. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Kats, Yefim, editor. Title: Supporting the education of children with autism spectrum disorders / Yefim Kats, editor. Description: Hershey PA : Information Science Reference, 2016. | Series: Advances in early childhood and K-12 education | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016023699| ISBN 9781522508168 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781522508175 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Autistic children--Education--United States. | Autistic youth--Education--United States. | Learning disabled children--Education--United States. | Learning disabled youth--Education--United States. Classification: LCC LC4718 .S86 2016 | DDC 371.94--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016023699 This book is published in the IGI Global book series Advances in Early Childhood and K-12 Education (AECKE) (ISSN: 2329-5929; eISSN: 2329-5937) British Cataloguing in Publication Data A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. All work contributed to this book is new, previously-unpublished material. The views expressed in this book are those of the authors, but not necessarily of the publisher. For electronic access to this publication, please contact: [email protected]. 225 Chapter 12 Social Stories in Robot-Assisted Therapy for Children with ASD David Silvera-Tawil University of New South Wales, Australia Iva Strnadová University of New South Wales, Australia Therese M Cumming University of New South Wales, Australia ABSTRACT Mobile technology devices are commonly used as assistive technology to support children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in gaining skills in interpersonal communication. While considered gener- ally safe and effective, there are concerns that a child that is taught to communicate through interactive technologies may become dependent on the virtual world and its rewards, while interpersonal skills are sacrificed or not generalized to real world settings (Bauminger-Zviely, Eden, Zancanaro, Weiss, & Gal, 2013). This chapter theorizes that the anthropomorphic embodiment of humanoid robots may provide a compromise between the real and the virtual worlds. The authors suggest that a humanoid robot can use social stories within an Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) framework to support the acquisition of social interaction skills of children with ASD. The objective of this chapter is to contribute to the current literature by providing a description of this intervention and make suggestions for its implementation using a case study approach. INTRODUCTION Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to prefer non-social stimuli to social stimuli (Heflin & Alaimo, 2007). For over a decade, mainstream technologies (e.g., computers and tablets) have been used as assistive devices to facilitate interpersonal communication for this population (Bauminger-Zviely et al., 2013; Chen, 2012; DiGennaro Reed, Hyman & Hirst, 2011; Gay, Leijdekkers, Agcanas, Wong, & Wu, 2013; Grynszpan, Weiss, Perez-Diaz & Gal, 2014; Irish, 2013; Lee et al., 2013); including apps, DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-0816-8.ch012 Copyright © 2017, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Social Stories in Robot-Assisted Therapy for Children with ASD computer games and virtual reality devices aimed to improve social engagement (Bauminger-Zviely et al., 2013) and emotion recognition (Beaumont & Sofronoff, 2008; Golan & Baron-Cohen, 2006), encour- age positive interactions (Hourcade, Williams, Miller, Huebner & Liang, 2013), and enhance language development (Ploog, Scharf, Nelson & Brooks, 2013) and adaptive independence (Bian et al., 2013). These technologies offer safe, realistic-looking three-dimensional scenarios that can be built to depict everyday social scenarios, providing an environment that allows for self-paced learning and immediate feedback, while minimizing the need for ‘real world’ social interactions during the learning process (Golan & Baron-Cohen, 2006; Strnadová, Cumming & Draper Rodriguez, 2014), a common source of anxiety for many people with ASD. Although these technologies appear to be effective, significant concerns include: (1) the child becoming dependent on the virtual world while interpersonal skills are sacrificed, and (2) significant restrictions in elements of face-to-face communication (eye gaze, body movement). The large gap between the safe and structured environment of computer-based interventions and real world social behavior results in poor transfer of skills to real world interactions (Bauminger-Zviely et al., 2013). Although virtual reality systems have the potential to provide higher degrees of control and interactivity between the user and the computer, the need to wear special technology that interferes with the individual’s natural behavior is an additional concern. The aim of this chapter is to introduce a vision and plan of a new intervention approach aimed to contribute to the evidence base of using different forms of technology to enhance the social communica- tion abilities of children with autism. This approach uses a humanoid robot and Social StoriesTM (Gray, 2000) within the Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) approach to teach social communication skills. LITERATURE REVIEW Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong developmental disability that affects the way a person communicates and relates to other people. It is generally characterized by impairments in social com- munication, social interaction, and social imagination, along with patterns of repetitive behavior. The degree of the impairments related to ASD varies significantly across a spectrum, ranging from severe to near-typical social functioning. Relevant evidence-based practices and research-based therapies seek to improve the individual’s social and communication skills while, at the same time, promoting their engagement in interpersonal interactions. Although there is no cure for autism, early intervention pro- grams are particularly beneficial and can lead to long-term gains in cognitive, social, emotional, and motor functioning (Bennett, 2012; Feil-Seifer & Matarić, 2008), providing considerable improvements to the individual’s quality of life and independence. A recent trend in robotics is the design and implementation of machines (robots) that provide as- sistance to humans through social interaction, rather than physical intervention. This field is known as socially assistive robotics (Feil-Seifer & Matarić, 2005). The use of robots as mediators, or assistive tools during therapy for children with Autism is one of the first applications of socially assistive robotics (SAR). This section will present a comprehensive review of research in SAR as tools for intervention for people with ASD. An introduction to Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), Social StoriesTM (Gray, 2000) and their potential for robot-assisted therapy is included. 226 Social Stories in Robot-Assisted Therapy for Children with ASD Socially-Assistive Robots in Robot-Assisted Therapy for ASD Play is an important element in the development of language skills, cognitive skills, and opportunities for social interaction (Pierucci, Barber, Gilpin, Crisler, & Klinger, 2015). Pierucci et al. (2015) rec- ommend that if a child does not typically engage in social reciprocal play, the intervention should be planned around his current level of performance and use object play to support the child in achieving social communication goals. For some time now it has been well known that children with ASD enjoy playing with computers and mechanical devices (Moore, 1998). Over the last decade, researchers have explored the use of robots as tools to supplement traditional therapy (Scassellati, Admoni & Matarić, 2012; Senland, 2014). These robots are often presented as ‘toys’ (Robins & Dautenhahn, 2014). These toys (robots) are novel, animated, are (or appear) autonomous, and set themselves apart from traditional toys, thereby further maintaining children’s interest (Scassellati, et al., 2012). Furthermore, the three-dimensional embodiment of robots provides a compromise between the virtual world—available through digital technologies—and the real world, by promoting a full body experience on the part of the child. A robot can provide complex behavior patterns, such as those available in human-to-human interactions, while appearing less intimidating and more predictable than humans (Michaud & Théberge-Turmel, 2002). Unlike digital technology, com- munication