The number of children diagnosed with Autism every year has been substantially increasing since the turn of the millennium. It is now estimated that 1 in 100 children are affected by learning difficulties.
Autism is a hidden disability, however, Autistic children frequently have problems in understanding social and emotional cues.
It is therefore disheartening that 63% of parents with a child on the Autistic spectrum, do not believe their child has access to the educational resources like Robot Assistive Technology For Autism that would best support them with their social and emotional development.
This is a serious concern because targeting these developmental aspects at a young age can have dramatic, long-term benefits to an Autistic student. As a result, the development of more innovative and engaging teaching resources for Autistic children has never been more important.
ROBOTIC ASSISTANCE FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
One of the major research projects that have shown exciting results in this field, is the use of robots to assist children on the Autistic spectrum.
The use of robots as an educational resource for the development of social and emotional awareness has a multitude of benefits and the foundation to this concept is simple. Robots are non-judgemental.
A robot does not care if you answer a question wrong, and it will never get bored, angry, or upset. Even the best teachers can’t always control their tone of voice and facial expressions but you can rely on a robot for consistency and that can be a very comforting concept.