Gaze Behavior During a Long-Term, In-Home, Social Robot Intervention for Children with ASD

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that a month-long in-home social robot intervention can improve gaze behaviors and joint attention in children with ASD, with implications for clinical practices.

Contribution

It is the first long-term, in-home study showing that social robots can effectively promote gaze and social engagement in children with ASD.

Findings

Increased spontaneous eye contact and joint attention observed.

Behavioral variability and novelty effects identified over time.

ASD diagnostic measures predict gaze patterns.

Abstract

Atypical gaze behavior is a diagnostic hallmark of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), playing a substantial role in the social and communicative challenges that individuals with ASD face. This study explores the impacts of a month-long, in-home intervention designed to promote triadic interactions between a social robot, a child with ASD, and their caregiver. Our results indicate that the intervention successfully promoted appropriate gaze behavior, encouraging children with ASD to follow the robot's gaze, resulting in more frequent and prolonged instances of spontaneous eye contact and joint attention with their caregivers. Additionally, we observed specific timelines for behavioral variability and novelty effects among users. Furthermore, diagnostic measures for ASD emerged as strong predictors of gaze patterns for both caregivers and children. These results deepen our understanding of ASD gaze patterns and highlight the potential for clinical relevance of robot-assisted interventions.