Good article, below, from District Administration...
"How robots excel at access for students with autism
Why students on the autism spectrum find comfort in working
with robots on coding, social-emotional skills and other subjects
The key to the effectiveness of any ed tech tool, including robots for children with autism, lies in whether students transfer the skills they’ve learned from schoolwork into their daily lives.
Educators at Stone Lakes Elementary School in Orlando, part of Orange County Public Schools, say this transfer is definitely occurring when students on the autism spectrum use a robot to develop social-emotional skills, such as calming themselves and greeting others appropriately.
“The students show a higher level of communication,” Principal Andronidus Rollins says. “We see relationships growing stronger in their interactions in the classroom, and especially when they interact with nondisabled peers in specials periods and at lunchtime.”
A range of autism robots—some lifelike, some cartoonlike spheres—also help special needs students learn core subjects and coding. The devices are highly effective because they provide students a safe space to experiment and near-instant feedback, educators and developers say.
“One advantage of coding and robots is that, especially with kids on the spectrum, it gives them the freedom to express what they’ve learned in a different way,” says Katie Caster, a K-5 STEM teacher at Oliver Hazard Perry School in Boston Public Schools. “That kind of authentic assessment is much more useful to me as a teacher.”
At Stone Lakes Elementary, special education teacher Christy Dove convinced Principal Rollins to buy the Milo robot for autism after learning about it from a parent and deciding it could be a game changer in her classroom..."
(click to) Read the full article at its source
The key to the effectiveness of any ed tech tool, including robots for children with autism, lies in whether students transfer the skills they’ve learned from schoolwork into their daily lives.
Educators at Stone Lakes Elementary School in Orlando, part of Orange County Public Schools, say this transfer is definitely occurring when students on the autism spectrum use a robot to develop social-emotional skills, such as calming themselves and greeting others appropriately.
“The students show a higher level of communication,” Principal Andronidus Rollins says. “We see relationships growing stronger in their interactions in the classroom, and especially when they interact with nondisabled peers in specials periods and at lunchtime.”
A range of autism robots—some lifelike, some cartoonlike spheres—also help special needs students learn core subjects and coding. The devices are highly effective because they provide students a safe space to experiment and near-instant feedback, educators and developers say.
“One advantage of coding and robots is that, especially with kids on the spectrum, it gives them the freedom to express what they’ve learned in a different way,” says Katie Caster, a K-5 STEM teacher at Oliver Hazard Perry School in Boston Public Schools. “That kind of authentic assessment is much more useful to me as a teacher.”
How robots for autism mimic emotions
At Stone Lakes Elementary, special education teacher Christy Dove convinced Principa.At Stone Lakes Elementary, special education teacher Christy Dove convinced Principal Rollins to buy the Milo robot for autism after learning about it from a parent and deciding it could be a game changer in her classroom..."
(click to) Read the full article at its source
