Abstract
The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of a brief robot-mediated intervention based on Lego® therapy on improving collaborative behaviors (i.e., interaction initiations, responses, and play together) between children with ASD and their siblings during play sessions, in a therapeutic setting. A concurrent multiple baseline design across three child–sibling pairs was in effect. The robot-intervention resulted in no statistically significant changes in collaborative behaviors of the children with ASD. Despite limited effectiveness of the intervention, this study provides several practical implications and directions for future research.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th edn., text rev.; DSM IV-TR). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Baker, M. J. (2000). Incorporating the thematic ritualistic behaviors of children with autism into games: Increasing social play interactions with siblings. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 2, 66–84.
Barakova, E. I., Gillesen, J. C. C., Huskens, B. E. B. M., & Lourens, T. (2013). End-user programming architecture facilitates the uptake of robots in social therapies. Robotic Autonomic Systems, 61, 704–713.
Bauminger, N., Shulman, C., & Agam, G. (2003). Peer interaction and loneliness in high-functioning children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33, 489–507.
Bauminger, N., Solomon, M., Aviezer, A., Heung, K., Brown, J., & Rogers, S. J. (2008). Friendships in high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorder: Mixed and non-mixed dyads. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38, 1211–1229.
Ben-Sasson, A., Lamash, L., & Gal, E. (2013). To enforce or not to enforce? The use of collaborative interfaces to promote social skills in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Autism, 17, 608–622.
Byrt, T., Bishop, J., & Carlin, J. B. (1993). Bias, prevalence and kappa. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 46, 423–429.
Cicchetti, D., Bronen, R., Spencer, S., Haut, S., Berg, A., Oliver, P., & Tyrer, P. (2006). Rating scales, scales of measurement, issues of reliability: Resolving some critical issues for clinicians and researchers. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 194, 557–564.
Dautenhahn, K., & Werry, I. (2004). Towards interactive robots in autism therapy. Pragmatics & Cognition, 12, 1–35.
Diehl, J. J., Schmitt, L. M., Villano, M., & Crowell, C. R. (2012). The clinical use of robots for individuals with autism spectrum disorders: A critical review. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 6, 249–262.
Duquette, A., Michaud, F., & Mercier, H. (2008). Exploring the use of a mobile robot as an imitation agent with children with low-functioning autism. Autonomous Robots, 24, 147–157.
Ferraioli, S. J., Hansford, A., & Harris, S. L. (2012). Benefits of including siblings in the treatment of autism spectrum disorders. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 19, 413–422.
Greczek, J., Kaszubski, E., Atrash, A., & Matariç, M. J. (2014). Graded cueing feedback in robot-mediated imitation practice for children with autism spectrum disorders. In 23rd IEEE symposium on robot and human interaction communication (RO-MAN’14). Edinburgh, UK, Aug 25–29, 2014. http://robotics.ucs.edu/publications/media/uploads/pubs/Ro-MAN-14-greczek.pdf. Accessed November 14, 2014.
Horner, R. H., Carr, E. G., Halle, J., McGee, G., Odom, S., & Wolery, M. (2005). The use of single-subject research to identify evidence-based practice in special education. Exceptional Children, 71, 165–179.
Huskens, B. E. B. M., Verschuur, R., Gillesen, J. C. C., Didden, R., & Barakova, E. I. (2013). Promoting question-asking in school-aged children with autism spectrum disorders: Effectiveness of a robot intervention compared to a human-trainer intervention. Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 16, 345–356.
LeGoff, D. B. (2004). Use of LEGO© as a therapeutic medium for improving social competence. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 557–571.
LeGoff, D. B., & Sherman, M. (2006). Long-term outcome of social skills intervention based on interactive LEGO© play. Autism, 10, 317–329.
Linde, K., Fässler, M., & Meissner, K. (2011). Placebo interventions, placebo effects and clinical practice. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 366, 1905–1912.
Owens, G., Granader, Y., Humphrey, A., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2008). LEGO® therapy and the social use of language programme: An evaluation of two social skills interventions for children with high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38, 1944–1957.
Parker, R. I., Vannest, K. J., & Davis, J. L. (2011a). Effect size in single-case research: A review of nine nonoverlap techniques. Behavior Modification, 35, 303–322.
Parker, R. I., Vannest, K. J., Davis, J. L., & Sauber, S. B. (2011b). Combining nonoverlap and trend for single-case research: Tau-U. Behavior Therapy, 42, 284–299.
Robins, B., Dautenhahn, K., Te Boekhorst, R., & Billard, A. (2004a). Effects of repeated exposure to a humanoid robot on children with autism. In S. Keates, J. Clarkson, P. Langdon, & P. Robinson (Eds.), Designing a more inclusive world (pp. 225–236). London: Springer.
Robins, B., Dickerson, P., Stribling, P., & Dautenhahn, K. (2004b). Robot-mediated joint attention in children with autism: A case study in robot–human interaction. Interaction Studies, 5, 161–198.
Rutter, M., Bailey, A., & Lord, C. (2003). The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ). Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.
Scassellati, B., Admoni, H., & Mataric, M. (2012). Robots for use in autism research. Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, 14, 275–294.
Tsao, L., & Odom, S. L. (2006). Sibling-mediated social interaction intervention for young children with autism. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 26, 106–123.
Vannest, K. J., Parker, R. I., & Gonen, O. (2011). Single Case Research: Web based calculators for SRC analysis (version 1.0) [Web-based application]. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University. Retrieved Tuesday July 23, 2013. Available from singlecaseresearch.org.
Walton, K. M., & Ingersoll, B. R. (2012). Evaluation of a sibling-mediated intervention for young children with autism. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 14, 241–253.
Warreyn, P., Raymaekers, R., & Roeyers, H. (2004). SCQ. Handleiding Vragenlijst Sociale Communicatie. Destelbergen: SIG vzw.
Weiss, M. J., & Harris, S. L. (2001). Teaching social skills to people with autism. Behavior Modification, 25, 785–802.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Innovation-Oriented Research Program ‘Integral Product Creation and Realization (IOP IPCR)’ of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, The Hague. The authors thank the children and their parents for their participation. We also would like to thank Rianne Verschuur and Margreet Weide for their assistance during preparation and data collection. Finally, we would like to thank Terence Nelson for his assistance with the robot in the intervention sessions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Huskens, B., Palmen, A., Van der Werff, M. et al. Improving Collaborative Play Between Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Their Siblings: The Effectiveness of a Robot-Mediated Intervention Based on Lego® Therapy. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 3746–3755 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2326-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2326-0