Avatar based interaction therapy: A potential therapeutic approach for children with Autism

Abstract

Autism is a neurodevelopment disorder characterized by severe deficiency in social interaction and communication skills. In this study, we investigated response levels of 5 healthy children to a robotic-avatar therapeutic system specially designed for children with Autism, and compared it to a pre-programmed robot designed to interact with autistic child and conventional interactive therapy conducted by a therapist. Our preliminary results show that our proposed avatar robot can increase the response and the interaction time of the child, thus increasing the attention span. On the other hand, our system can also automate and facilitate measuring the progress of interaction. The avatar robot can replicate the therapist's presence, mimicking his/her motion, transferring his/her voice, as well as, delivering feedbacks to the therapist with visuals and audio from the child environment.