{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,2]],"date-time":"2026-06-02T18:33:31Z","timestamp":1780425211057,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,15]],"date-time":"2022-06-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1655251200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012632","name":"a Nazarbayev University Collaborative Research Program","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["091019CRP2107"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["091019CRP2107"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012632","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["MTI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>With its focus on robot-assisted autism therapy, this paper presents case-by-case analyses of socio-emotional outcomes of 34 children aged 3\u201312 years old, with different cases of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). We grouped children by the following characteristics: ASD alone (n = 22), ASD+ADHD (n = 12), verbal (n = 11), non-verbal (n = 23), low-functioning autism (n = 24), and high-functioning autism (n = 10). This paper provides a series of separate quantitative analyses across the first and last sessions, adaptive and non-adaptive sessions, and parent and no-parent sessions, to present child experiences with the NAO robot, during play-based activities. The results suggest that robots are able to interact with children in social ways and influence their social behaviors over time. Each child with ASD is a unique case and needs an individualized approach to practice and learn social skills with the robot. We, finally, present specific child\u2013robot intricacies that affect how children engage and learn over time as well as across different sessions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/mti6060046","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,16]],"date-time":"2022-06-16T03:01:22Z","timestamp":1655348482000},"page":"46","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["The Quantitative Case-by-Case Analyses of the Socio-Emotional Outcomes of Children with ASD in Robot-Assisted Autism Therapy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"6","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7562-3315","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhansaule","family":"Telisheva","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Robotics and Mechatronics, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan 010 000, Kazakhstan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6907-0187","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aida","family":"Amirova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan 010 000, Kazakhstan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1103-8165","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nazerke","family":"Rakhymbayeva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Robotics and Mechatronics, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan 010 000, Kazakhstan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aida","family":"Zhanatkyzy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Robotics and Mechatronics, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan 010 000, Kazakhstan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9299-5700","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anara","family":"Sandygulova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Robotics and Mechatronics, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan 010 000, Kazakhstan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hood, D., Lemaignan, S., and Dillenbourg, P. (2015). When children teach a robot to write: An autonomous teachable humanoid which uses simulated handwriting. Proceedings of the Tenth Annual ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Portland, OG, USA, 2\u20135 March 2015, Association for Computing Machinery.","DOI":"10.1145\/2696454.2696479"},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Lee, D.D., Sugiyama, M., Luxburg, U.V., Guyon, I., and Garnett, R. (2016). Hierarchical deep reinforcement learning: Integrating temporal abstraction and intrinsic motivation. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 29, Curran Associates Inc."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tleubayev, B., Zhexenova, Z., Zhakenova, A., and Sandygulova, A. (2019, January 22\u201324). Robot-Assisted Therapy for Children with ADHD and ASD: A Pilot Study. Proceedings of the 2019 2nd International Conference on Service Robotics Technologies, Beijing, China.","DOI":"10.1145\/3325693.3325703"},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Mazel, A., and Matu, S. (2019, January 11\u201314). DREAM lite: Simplifying robot assisted therapy for ASD. Proceedings of the 14th ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2019), Daegu, Korea."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Dautenhahn, K. (1999, January 11\u201314). Robots as social actors: Aurora and the case of autism. Proceedings of the CT99, The Third International Cognitive Technology Conference, San Francisco, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"275","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-bioeng-071811-150036","article-title":"Robots for Use in Autism Research","volume":"14","author":"Scassellati","year":"2012","journal-title":"Annu. Rev. Biomed. Eng."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"198","DOI":"10.1016\/j.artmed.2018.12.003","article-title":"Project INSIDE: Towards autonomous semi-unstructured human\u2013robot social interaction in autism therapy","volume":"96","author":"Melo","year":"2019","journal-title":"Artif. Intell. Med."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"42","DOI":"10.1016\/j.patrec.2018.03.007","article-title":"Quantifying patterns of joint attention during human-robot interactions: An application for autism spectrum disorder assessment","volume":"118","author":"Anzalone","year":"2019","journal-title":"Pattern Recognit. Lett."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"147","DOI":"10.1007\/s10514-007-9056-5","article-title":"Exploring the use of a mobile robot as an imitation agent with children with low-functioning autism","volume":"24","author":"Duquette","year":"2008","journal-title":"Auton. Robot."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Feil-Seifer, D., and Mataric, M. (2009). Toward Socially Assistive Robotics for Augmenting Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-00196-3_24"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kim, E., Paul, R., Shic, F., and Scassellati, B. (2012). Bridging the Research Gap: Making HRI Useful to Individuals with Autism. J. Hum. Robot. Interact., 1.","DOI":"10.5898\/JHRI.1.1.Kim"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"eaat7544","DOI":"10.1126\/scirobotics.aat7544","article-title":"Improving social skills in children with ASD using a long-term, in-home social robot","volume":"3","author":"Scassellati","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sci. Robot."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"249","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rasd.2011.05.006","article-title":"The clinical use of robots for individuals with autism spectrum disorders: A critical review","volume":"6","author":"Diehl","year":"2012","journal-title":"Res. Autism Spectr. Disord."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105","DOI":"10.1007\/s10209-005-0116-3","article-title":"Robotic assistants in therapy and education of children with autism: Can a small humanoid robot help encourage social interaction skills?","volume":"4","author":"Robins","year":"2005","journal-title":"Univers. Access Inf. Soc."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"157","DOI":"10.1007\/s12369-016-0346-y","article-title":"Are Robots Ready to Deliver Autism Interventions? A Comprehensive Review","volume":"8","author":"Begum","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. J. Soc. Robot."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"445","DOI":"10.1007\/s12369-016-0369-4","article-title":"Matching robot KASPAR to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) therapy and educational goals","volume":"8","author":"Huijnen","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. J. Soc. Robot."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"45","DOI":"10.1007\/s12369-013-0195-x","article-title":"A pilot study with a novel setup for collaborative play of the humanoid robot KASPAR with children with autism","volume":"6","author":"Wainer","year":"2014","journal-title":"Int. J. Soc. Robot."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shamsuddin, S., Yussof, H., Ismail, L., Hanapiah, F., Mohamed, S., Piah, H., and Zahari, N. (2012, January 23\u201325). Initial response of autistic children in human-robot interaction therapy with humanoid robot NAO. Proceedings of the 8th IEEE International Colloquium on Signal Processing and its Applications, Malacca, Malaysia.","DOI":"10.1109\/CSPA.2012.6194716"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"401","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2021.772141","article-title":"Lessons Learned About Designing and Conducting Studies From HRI Experts","volume":"8","author":"Fraune","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front. Robot. AI"},{"key":"ref_20","first-page":"209","article-title":"Robot-assisted therapy for autism spectrum disorders with (partially) autonomous control: Challenges and outlook","volume":"3","author":"Thill","year":"2013","journal-title":"Paladyn"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"443","DOI":"10.1017\/S0263574703004922","article-title":"Roles and functions of robots in human society: Implications from research in autism therapy","volume":"21","author":"Dautenhahn","year":"2003","journal-title":"Robotica"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Robins, B., Dautenhahn, K., and Dickerson, P. (2009, January 1\u20137). From isolation to communication: A case study evaluation of robot assisted play for children with autism with a minimally expressive humanoid Robot. Proceedings of the 2009 Second International Conferences on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions, Cancun, Mexico.","DOI":"10.1109\/ACHI.2009.32"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Robins, B., and Dautenhahn, K. (2006, January 6\u20138). The role of the experimenter in HRI research\u2014A case study evaluation of children with autism interacting with a robotic toy. Proceedings of the ROMAN 2006\u2014The 15th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Hatfield, UK.","DOI":"10.1109\/ROMAN.2006.314473"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"315","DOI":"10.1075\/is.13.3.01tap","article-title":"Children with autism social engagement in interaction with Nao, an imitative robot: A series of single case experiments","volume":"13","author":"Tapus","year":"2012","journal-title":"Interact. Stud."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Beer, J.M., Boren, M., and Liles, K.R. (2016, January 7\u201310). Robot assisted music therapy a case study with children diagnosed with autism. Proceedings of the 2016 11th ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), Christchurch, New Zealand.","DOI":"10.1109\/HRI.2016.7451785"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"137","DOI":"10.1177\/0047239516687721","article-title":"A Robotic Therapy Case Study: Developing Joint Attention Skills With a Student on the Autism Spectrum","volume":"46","author":"Charron","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Educ. Technol. Syst."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1007\/s12369-017-0433-8","article-title":"Human\u2013Robot Interaction in Autism Treatment: A Case Study on Three Pairs of Autistic Children as Twins, Siblings, and Classmates","volume":"10","author":"Taheri","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. J. Soc. Robot."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sandygulova, A., Amirova, A., Telisheva, Z., Zhanatkyzy, A., and Rakhymbayeva, N. (2022). Individual Differences of Children with Autism in Robot-Assisted Autism Therapy, IEEE Press.","DOI":"10.1109\/HRI53351.2022.9889537"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"224","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2010.00224","article-title":"The intense world theory\u2014A unifying theory of the neurobiology of autism","volume":"4","author":"Markram","year":"2010","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_30","first-page":"295","article-title":"Autism Spectrum Disorders","volume":"30","author":"Faras","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int. J. Soc. Robot."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"APA (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5, APA. [5th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"Autism Spectrum Disorder (2022, April 07). Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Available online: https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/ncbddd\/autism\/index.html."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3178","DOI":"10.1038\/s41380-020-0748-y","article-title":"Autism spectrum heterogeneity: Fact or artifact?","volume":"25","author":"Mottron","year":"2020","journal-title":"Mol. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Telisheva, Z., Turarova, A., Zhanatkyzy, A., Abylkasymova, G., and Sandygulova, A. (2019). Robot-assisted therapy for the severe form of autism: Challenges and recommendations. Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Robotics, Madrid, Spain, 26\u201329 November 2019, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-35888-4_44"},{"key":"ref_35","unstructured":"Autism Speaks (2017). Autism and health: A special report by autism speaks. Advances in Understanding and Treating the Health Conditions that Frequently Accompany Autism, Autism Speaks."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"315","DOI":"10.1055\/s-0040-1701658","article-title":"ADHD: Current Concepts and Treatments in Children and Adolescents","volume":"51","author":"Drechsler","year":"2020","journal-title":"Neuropediatrics"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"306","DOI":"10.1007\/s40489-020-00197-9","article-title":"The Female Autism Phenotype and Camouflaging: A Narrative Review","volume":"7","author":"Hull","year":"2020","journal-title":"Rev. J. Autism Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"268","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2014.00268","article-title":"The co-occurrence of autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children\u2014What do we know?","volume":"8","author":"Leitner","year":"2014","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_39","first-page":"1","article-title":"A Control Architecture of Robot-Assisted Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders","volume":"1","author":"Feng","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Robot."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ferrari, E., Robins, B., and Dautenhahn, K. (October, January 27). Therapeutic and educational objectives in robot assisted play for children with autism. Proceedings of the RO-MAN 2009\u2014The 18th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Toyama, Japan.","DOI":"10.1109\/ROMAN.2009.5326251"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"213","DOI":"10.1109\/TAMD.2014.2319861","article-title":"Learning of social signatures through imitation game between a robot and a human partner","volume":"6","author":"Boucenna","year":"2014","journal-title":"Auton. Mental Dev. IEEE Trans."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"552","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-48113-3_47","article-title":"How social robots will help us to diagnose, treat, and understand autism","volume":"Volume 28","author":"Scassellati","year":"2005","journal-title":"Robotics Research"},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lord, C., Luyster, R., Gotham, K., and Guthrie, W. (2012). Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Toddler Module; Western Psychological Services. [2nd ed.].","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4419-1698-3_2011"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"693","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-008-0674-3","article-title":"Standardizing ADOS scores for a measure of severity in autism spectrum disorders","volume":"39","author":"Gotham","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Autism Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"744526","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2021.744526","article-title":"10 Years of Human-NAO Interaction Research: A Scoping Review","volume":"8","author":"Amirova","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front. Robot. AI"},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"330","DOI":"10.1515\/pjbr-2019-0027","article-title":"Interaction design and methodology of robot-assisted therapy for children with severe ASD and ADHD","volume":"10","author":"Sandygulova","year":"2019","journal-title":"Paladyn J. Behav. Robot."},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"180","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2021.669972","article-title":"A Long-Term Engagement with a Social Robot for Autism Therapy","volume":"8","author":"Rakhymbayeva","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front. Robot. AI"},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Amirova, A., Rakhymbayeva, N., Zhanatkyzy, A., Telisheva, Z., and Sandygulova, A. (2022). Effects of Parental Involvement in Robot-Assisted Autism Therapy. J. Autism Dev. Disord., 1\u201318.","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-022-05429-x"},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"36","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2017.00036","article-title":"Measuring Engagement in Robot-Assisted Autism Therapy: A Cross-Cultural Study","volume":"4","author":"Rudovic","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front. Robot. AI"},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"292","DOI":"10.1075\/is.15.2.14pop","article-title":"Enhancing play skills, engagement and social skills in a play task in ASD children by using robot-based interventions. A pilot study","volume":"15","author":"Pop","year":"2014","journal-title":"Interact. Stud."},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Stanton, C.M., Kahn, P.H., Severson, R.L., Ruckert, J.H., and Gill, B.T. (2008, January 12\u201315). Robotic animals might aid in the social development of children with autism. Proceedings of the 2008 3rd ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.","DOI":"10.1145\/1349822.1349858"},{"key":"ref_52","unstructured":"Admoni, H., Bank, C., Tan, J., Toneva, M., and Scassellati, B. (2011, January 20\u201323). Robot gaze does not reflexively cue human attention. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Boston, MA, USA."},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ellenbroek, B.A., and Cools, A.R. (1993). Stereotyped Behaviour, Elsevier.","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-0-444-81444-9.50025-0"},{"key":"ref_54","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"442","DOI":"10.1080\/15374416.2016.1138407","article-title":"Longitudinal Effects of Adaptive Interventions With a Speech-Generating Device in Minimally Verbal Children With ASD","volume":"45","author":"Almirall","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Clin. Child Adolesc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_55","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"469","DOI":"10.1080\/15374416.2014.915549","article-title":"Developing an Adaptive Treatment Strategy for Peer-Related Social Skills for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders","volume":"45","author":"Shih","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Clin. Child Adolesc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_56","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8110","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-020-65048-3","article-title":"Adherence and acceptability of a robot-assisted Pivotal Response Treatment protocol for children with autism spectrum disorder","volume":"10","author":"Oosterling","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_57","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3604","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2021.773604","article-title":"Parent-Mediated Interventions for Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis","volume":"12","author":"Conrad","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front. Psychiatry"}],"container-title":["Multimodal Technologies and Interaction"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2414-4088\/6\/6\/46\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T23:31:54Z","timestamp":1760139114000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2414-4088\/6\/6\/46"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,15]]},"references-count":57,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6]]}},"alternative-id":["mti6060046"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mti6060046","relation":{},"ISSN":["2414-4088"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2414-4088","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,15]]}}}