Liliana de Sousa
Papers
3
Total Citations
69
H-Index
3
About
Liliana de Sousa is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of animal-assisted intervention and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Her work focuses on understanding how both living and robotic dogs can serve as therapeutic tools to improve social communication, emotional regulation, and behavioral compliance in individuals with severe ASD and language delays. In her most cited study (31 citations), she demonstrated that dogs can assist children with severe ASD in complying with challenging demands, offering a novel, non-pharmacological approach to therapy. Her 2019 comparative study (25 citations) provided the first direct comparison between living and robotic dogs, revealing their distinct potentials to elicit social communication and regulated emotional responses. De Sousa also showed that contact with dogs can trigger spontaneous imitation in both children and adults with severe ASD (13 citations), a finding with major clinical relevance for developing imitation-based interventions. Her innovative work bridges ethology, robotics, and clinical psychology, opening new pathways for inclusive, multisensory therapeutic strategies.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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