Using a Daily Routine Game on the BLISS Robot for Supporting Personal-Social Development in Children with Autism and Other Special Needs

Abstract

For autistic children and children with special needs, performing daily routine can be relatively difficult. Many parents have developed chronic stress as they have to confront inappropriate behaviors from their child. In this study, we developed a daily routine game on the BLISS robot and investigated the use of the daily routine game on the BLISS robot in autistic children as well as children with special needs. We hypothesized that by taking care of daily routine for the robot, children could aware and perform their daily routine better. This daily routine game included four sections: brushing teeth, taking a shower, having a meal, and packing a bag for school. Six children with autism and other special needs between 3 and 10 years old participated in this study. All children played this game with the BLISS robot twice. The experimental results showed that participants could improve their development in both language and personal-social skills. Almost all children (5 out of 6) learned the rules of games in the first round. When the robot makes a request, they can do missions of the game by responding to the request by themselves. All children appeared to enjoy playing with the BLISS robot. The personal-social development evaluated by parents showed significant improvement after the experiment (p <; 0.05). Therefore, playing a daily routine game as taking care of the robot could promote children personal-social development.