Comparing Gaze and Bodily Behaviors of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Robot-Enhanced Therapy and Standard Human Treatment: A Secondary Analysis of the DREAM Dataset

Abstract

This study examined the differences in gaze and body behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during robot-enhanced therapy (RET) and standard human treatment (SHT). Using the DREAM dataset, 2,234 intervention sessions conducted with 54 children (RET=28, SHT=26) were analyzed with linear mixed-effects models, controlling for task type, age, and autism severity. Compared with SHT, RET produced significantly greater horizontal gaze (β=.057, p<.001, d=1.40) and head-orientation (β=.046, p<.001, d=1.22) variability, with a smaller increase in vertical gaze variability (β=.020, p=.005, d=0.79). Neither vertical head-orientation variability nor upper-body motor activity differed significantly in the primary analysis, although upper-body motor activity became significant in the sensitivity analyses. The between-condition differences were most consistent for horizontal visual exploration. Further validation using region-of-interest eye-tracking and longitudinal designs is warranted.