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Matching Robot KASPAR to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Therapy and Educational Goals

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the potential contribution of therapy robot KASPAR to the therapy and/or educational goals for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to professionals and practitioners in the field. An online questionnaire and focus groups were applied to elicit the expectations of a group of 54 multidisciplinary ASD practitioners about therapy and/or educational goals KASPAR can contribute to. Findings indicate that professionals expect KASPAR to be of added value to ASD objectives in domains such as ‘communication’, ‘social/interpersonal interaction and relations’, and ‘play’, but also in objectives related to ‘emotional wellbeing’ and ‘preschool skills’. A top 10 is created of professionals’ expectations of potential added value for robot KASPAR for working on therapy and educational goals for children with ASD. Professionals are convinced that KASPAR can be useful in interventions for a broad range of therapy and education goals for children with autism spectrum disorder.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant of the RAAK-PRO programme of SIA (“Stichting Innovatie Alliantie”) for the project “Social robots in care” (project number PRO-4-10). This is a program from the Dutch ministry of education, culture and science to stimulate collaboration between public and private organisations. The authors sincerely thank our beloved friend and colleague Gert Jan Gelderblom\(^{\dag }\) for his highly appreciated and valuable devotion to this work and the entire domain of (robot) assisted technologies for people in need of support. Moreover, gratefulness is expressed for the contribution of all ASD professionals that participated in this research shining their light on the potential added value of KASPAR in interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre Technology in Care, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, Henri Dunantstraat 2, 6419, Heerlen, PB, The Netherlands

    Claire A. G. J. Huijnen, Monique A. S. Lexis & Luc P. de Witte

  2. Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Claire A. G. J. Huijnen & Luc P. de Witte

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  1. Claire A. G. J. Huijnen
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  2. Monique A. S. Lexis
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  3. Luc P. de Witte
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claire A. G. J. Huijnen.

Appendix

Appendix

See Fig. 8.

Fig. 8
figure 8

Expected role for KASPAR in the objectives in the nine overall domains (absolute number of people, total n = 54)

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Huijnen, C.A.G.J., Lexis, M.A.S. & de Witte, L.P. Matching Robot KASPAR to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Therapy and Educational Goals. Int J of Soc Robotics 8, 445–455 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-016-0369-4

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