Can children of typical development benefit from inclusion intervention with Daisy Robot - a socially assistive robot?

Abstract

Inclusion is a system that accepts diversity as the norm, and can be achieved successfully in environments that promote and encourage social interaction, such as the interventions with Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) do. The permission and attitudes of the parents of children of Typical Development (TD) that their children participate in interventions that promote inclusion in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are considered as an important factor for the implementation. In general, parents seem to accept the inclusive practices, but when it comes to their children's participation in such activities, many appear to be skeptical about allowing their children to participate, stating most of the times fear that their children will adopt possible negative behaviors of children with disabilities or their children's education will be impeded. In an intervention for the inclusion of three ASD children, with Daisy Robot, three more children of TD, also participated. All TD became more motivated to engage in actions under the guidance of the robot, and their scores on almost all of the skills were perfected after the interventions. Most importantly, TD children's participation worked for the benefit of their own development since no misbehaviors were observed or other issues arose, suggesting that their education and training were impeded. On the contrary, they presented development taking advantage of the different circumstances.