Exploring Nao’s Role in Enhancing Motor Activity for Young Children with ASD in Inclusive Classrooms

Ground-breaking research into the use of social robots with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is paving the way for innovative applications in early childhood education. This experimental study carried out a social robotbased intervention in a preschool setting to investigate the potential of robotic technology to transform inclusive pedagogical approaches with young children with ASD. The study examined the relationships between children and educational figures and between children and the Nao robot during motor activities in two comparative preschool settings. 20 children aged between 24 and 36 months were involved, divided into two groups of ten subjects. Each group included a child with autism. The research aims to provide evidence for the creation of specific robotic educational mediation devices, to promote communicative-relational skills of educators in the preschool context, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the NAO robot during motor activity sessions for children with autism, examining its impact on children’s involvement, attention, and on motor skills and coordination. The research tools and phases, carried out within the micro-pedagogical and phenomenological theoreticalmethodological approach, are described. The interactions and meanings are pedagogically analyzed in the framework of the didactics of the implicit. The results show that children were engaged with the robot and children with ASD had an interest in the robot sessions. In one case, this involvement was prompted by the child’s spontaneous curiosity, while in the other case, it was facilitated by the educator’s support in fostering the child’s relation with the robot alongside his peers.