IMPROVING LISTENER RESPONDING SKILL USING BEE-BOT® IN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: CASE STUDY

Authors

  • Dimitra Chaldi University of Patras, Department of Medicine, Panepistimioupoli, 26504, Patra, Greece
  • Garyfalia Mantzanidou Kindergarten of Drepano, Koimiseos Theotokou, 26504, Drepano, Greece

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejse.v7i2.3823

Keywords:

autism spectrum disorder, communication, robotics, Bee-Bot®, listener responding, speech therapy, applied behavior analysis

Abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorder may have a variety of communication deficits. Their communication difficulties include language delay, limited vocabulary, inability to speak words, echolalia or repetitive use of phonemes, words, or phrases, absence of eye-contact during communication, and poor non-verbal communication skills. Moreover, some of them are nonverbal so they have to learn how to communicate by using alternative and augmentative communication techniques. Some children on the spectrum in order to improve their receptive and expressive communication skills need to work on a highly structured therapeutic environment and others need to work on a natural environment. Educational robotics can be a successful tool for children on the spectrum in order to improve communicational skills. The main goal of this study is to implement Bee-Bot® robotic toy as a supportive tool for a child with autism in order to improve his listener responding skill across actions. The results showed that during speech and Applied Behavior Analysis intervention, the child improved his receptive skill in a more funny and educational way. Researchers identified that by using Bee-Bot®, the participant communicated intensively and participated to the activity more enthusiastically than using the traditional method of teaching at the table. Nevertheless, researchers should implement generalization and maintenance procedures to ensure that the participant will be able to apply the learned behavior and skill outside of the learning environment and continue to practice the acquired skill over time.

Article visualizations:

Hit counter

Author Biographies

  • Dimitra Chaldi, University of Patras, Department of Medicine, Panepistimioupoli, 26504, Patra, Greece
    Dimitra Chaldi is a Speech – Language Pathologist at “Speech Rehabilitation Institute – Chaldi D.”. She is also a Lecturer at University of Peloponnese (Department of Speech – Language Pathology), PhD. Student in Medicine, LSVT-LOUD Certified S-LP Clinician, PROMPT-Bridging Certified S-LP, A Hanen® Certified “It Takes Two to Talk” S-LP. She completed her Master’s Degree in Disability Studies with specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) at Brock University, Canada.
  • Garyfalia Mantzanidou, Kindergarten of Drepano, Koimiseos Theotokou, 26504, Drepano, Greece
    Garyfalia Mantzanidou is a Kindergarten teacher. She is passionate with Educational Robotics and she has been involved to many Erasmus projects through the last couple of years. She has also been trained to Lumiere technique and she is teaching her students how to design and use educational robotics in her classroom.

References

Chaldi, D. (2020). Increasing Vocal Repertoire in order to Reduce Screaming Behavior in Toddler with Autism. International Journal of Educational Innovation, 2 (1), 100 – 106

Grow, L., & LeBlanc, L. (2013). Teaching receptive language skills: recommendations for instructors. Behavior analysis in practice, 6(1), 56–75. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391791

Guillian, N., Ricks, D., Atherton, A., Colton, M., Goodrich, M., & Brinton, B. (2010, October, 10-13). Detailed Requirements for Robots in Autism Therapy [Paper Presentation]. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Istanbul, Turkey.

Maenner, M. J., Shaw, K. A., Baio, J., et al. (2020). Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 8 Years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 Sites, United States, 2016. Surveillance Summaries, 69 (4), 1 – 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9072163

Mantzanidou G. (2020). Educational Robotics in Kindergarten, a Case Study. In: Merdan M., Lepuschitz W., Koppensteiner G., Balogh R., Obdržálek D. (eds) Robotics in Education. RiE 2019. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1023. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26945-6_5

Pratt, C., Hopf, R., & Larriba – Quest, K. (2017). Characteristics of individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Reporter,21 (17). Retrieved from https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/pages/characteristics

Thomaidis, L., Mavroeidi, N., Richardson, C., Choleva, A., Damianos, G., Bolias, K., & Tsolia, M. (2020). Autism Spectrum Disorders in Greece: Nationwide Prevalence in 10-11 Year-Old Children and Regional Disparities. Journal of clinical medicine, 9(7), 2163.

Downloads

Published

2021-07-01

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2021)

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

 

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

 

  1. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

 

  1. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).