Abstract

Social and communication deficits are a core feature of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and impact an individual's ability to be a full participant in their school environment and community. The increase in number of students with ASD in schools combined with the use of ineffective interventions have created a critical need for quality social-communication instruction in schools for this population. Technology-based interventions, like robots, have the potential to greatly impact students with disabilities, including students with ASD who tend to show increased interest and engagement in technology-based tasks and materials. While research on the use of robots with these learners is limited, these technologies have been successfully used to teach basic social-communication skills. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a social-communication intervention for young children with ASD that is rooted in evidence-based practices and utilizes a surrogate interactive robot as the primary interventionist. This study utilized a multiple baseline design across behaviors to determine the impact of the robot-assisted intervention on the manding, tacting, and intraverbal skills of four, 3-year old students with ASD. The researchers found that this intervention was effective in increasing the rate of all three the target behaviors.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2017

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Vasquez, Eleazar

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Education and Human Performance

Degree Program

Education; Exceptional Education

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0006736

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0006736

Language

English

Release Date

August 2017

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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