Evaluating the Use of a Humanoid Robot to Teach Discrete Trial Training Procedures to Individuals without ABA Experience through Behavior Skills Training

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a humanoid Nao robot in training individuals with no prior experience in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to implement Discrete Trial Training (DTT) procedures using the Behavior Skills Training (BST) model. Despite the widespread use of BST as an effective training method, its time-intensive nature poses challenges for scalability and consistency. Additionally, there is limited literature on the use of robotic technology to facilitate ABA training, particularly in training novice behavior technicians in DTT with a robot simulating a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This study utilized a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design to assess the impact of robot-assisted BST on procedural accuracy. Nine undergraduate students from a large public university in the Midwest with no previous exposure to ABA participated in the study. Training took place in a therapy room within a university-affiliated ASD clinic. The intervention involved four steps, instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback that were delivered with the assistance of a humanoid Nao robot programmed to respond as a child learner. The dependent variable was the participants correct implementation of DTT