An interventional study of Robot-mediated Intervention in Autism Spectrum Disorder, sponsored by Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc.. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 4 Years to 8 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-09-19.
Sponsored by Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc. · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
This study is being done to examine the impact of an interactive, social robotics program in helping children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) understand emotions and how to better recognize emotions while interacting with others. Eligible families will be randomized to either the robot intervention (n=20) or a no intervention (TAU; n=20) condition for 8-14 weeks. Assessments will occur at pre- and post-intervention as well as weekly for both conditions.
1,727 studies on the registry are indexed under Autism Spectrum Disorder; 504 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 40 is below the median of 52 across 1,371 interventional studies indexed under Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Browse Autism Spectrum Disorder studies →Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc. is the lead sponsor of 76 studies on the registry; 19 are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Families assigned to the robot condition will be asked to complete pre-test assessments and post testing as well as to participate in the robot intervention. The intervention will last for a 8-14 week period in which families will bring their child in 2-3 times a week on average for approximately 30 minutes until 24 treatment sessions have been completed. Children will receive one-on-one intervention with an interventionist facilitating the child's interactions with the robot.
Behavioral: Robot-mediated Intervention
Families assigned to the TAU condition will be asked to complete pre-test assessments and approximately 8-14 weeks later return to complete post-test assessments where the social emotions activity will be retested. During the 8-14 weeks between the testing assessments, families in the TAU condition will also receive a weekly email asking about their child's media use.
The intervention follows the curriculum developed by RoboKind to target and improve upon social interactions through core vocabulary and modeling.
Change in baseline emotions accurately identified on the Transporters Quiz
The Transporters Quiz (Autism Transporters CIC, Autism Research Center) is a quiz developed to test a child's understanding of the emotions portrayed in stories. The quiz examines whether a child can link a word describing an emotion, the facial expression of that emotion, and the causes of the emotion. This quiz will be given prior to starting treatment and again at the completion of the intervention.
Time frame: 14 weeks into treatment (at completion of intervention)
Change in baseline Social Responsiveness Scale Score
Time frame: 14 weeks into treatment (at completion of intervention)
Number of prompt-free intervals during the treatment sessions
For treatment condition only. One session a week will be randomly selected to be recorded for 15 minutes and coded for the number of times the child independently and appropriately interacts with the robot.
Time frame: Weekly throughout intervention schedule (8-14 weeks)
Change in baseline parent report of child's emotion recognition
Time frame: 14 weeks into treatment (at completion of intervention)
This study is completed, as verified in Sep 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc.