Social Relations Training for Children With ASD

Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Autism

Treatments: Other: Social relation training with social robot; Other: Traditional social relations training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06278155

CNR-IRIB-PRO-2024-001

Details and patient eligibility

About

The following protocol was developed with the intention of significantly improving social skills by focusing on increasing relationship skills among children with ASD. Divided into two distinct parts, "Basic Social Relationships" and "Intermediate Social Relationships," the protocol has 4 stages for the former and 5 stages for the latter. Each phase is preparatory to the next, and in addition, a teaching procedure is implemented that adopts three prompt levels (partial, moderate and total), gradually aiming to reduce the assistance provided to encourage independent response. This gradual approach is designed to stimulate greater independence in social interactions.

The training lasts between 6 and 12 months, with one or two weekly group meetings lasting forty-five minutes each. Before the start and at the end of the protocol, participants are assessed using the Vineland scale to evaluate their adaptive behaviors.

The primary goal is to enable children with autism to develop meaningful social skills, providing them with concrete tools to interact more effectively and independently with their peers, thus improving their quality of life and social involvement. The protocol involves two distinct groups, experimental and control group.

The experimental group involves the use of a social robot that acts as a mediator in the interactions among participants. The role of the social robot is to facilitate, reinforce and support the participants' responses during the activities. The therapist coordinates with the social robot, helping to guide, reinforce and support participants' interactions.

In the control group, the therapist takes on the role of mediating interactions, helping and facilitating participants' responses. There is no involvement of a social robot; therefore,the therapist self acts directly to guide, reinforce and support the participants' social interactions.

Enrollment: 60 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 5 to 10 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• language in sentences
• Griffiths: QS>75

Exclusion criteria

• presence of other medical disorders

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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60 participants in 2 patient groups

Experimental social relations group

Experimental group

Description:

In the experimental group, a social robot is expected to mediate the relationship among peers. Its task is to prompt, reinforce and support the participants' responses. In this case, it is the therapist who mediates the relationship by prompting, reinforcing and supporting the participants' responses.

Treatment:

Other: Social relation training with social robot

Control social relations group

Other group

Description:

In the control group, the therapist is expected to act as a mediator of the relationship, prompting, reinforcing and supporting the participants' responses.

Treatment:

Other: Traditional social relations training