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Small-Group Technology-Assisted Instruction: Virtual Teacher and Robot Peer for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

The authors combined virtual reality technology and social robotics to develop a tutoring system that resembled a small-group arrangement. This tutoring system featured a virtual teacher instructing sight words, and included a humanoid robot emulating a peer. The authors used a multiple-probe design across word sets to evaluate the effects of the instructional package on the explicit acquisition and vicarious learning of sight words instructed to three children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the robot peer. Results indicated that participants acquired, maintained, and generalized 100% of the words explicitly instructed to them, made fewer errors while learning the words common between them and the robot peer, and vicariously learned 94% of the words solely instructed to the robot.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant BRIGE-1228027. This study is based on a doctoral dissertation by Mohammad Nasser Saadatzi at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Louisville.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA

    Mohammad Nasser Saadatzi, Karla C. Welch & James H. Graham

  2. Department of Special Education and Child Development, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA

    Robert C. Pennington

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  1. Mohammad Nasser Saadatzi
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Contributions

MNS conceptualized and designed the study, developed the tutoring system, conducted the experiment, analyzed the data, prepared the initial manuscript, and revised the final manuscript for important intellectual content. RCP made significant assistance in the conception and design of the study, contributed in the initial manuscript write-up, advised on the data analysis, and revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. Supervision and feedback throughout the study were provided by KCW and JHG.

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Correspondence to Mohammad Nasser Saadatzi.

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Saadatzi, M.N., Pennington, R.C., Welch, K.C. et al. Small-Group Technology-Assisted Instruction: Virtual Teacher and Robot Peer for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 48, 3816–3830 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3654-2

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