You knew something was different about your son or daughter. They don’t respond to you although the doctor says there is nothing wrong with their hearing. When they do talk, they never look you in the eyes. If something is wrong they can’t tell you why. They throw fits on a regular basis, making it impossible to go out. Finally, you take your child to the doctor who diagnoses them with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The question on your mind is’ what to do now?’. There is an abundance of information and treatments out there, which, more or less, force a child with ASD to stop a behavior. Traditional therapy seems more like correctional treatment. It forces your child to bend to societal standards and doesn’t address the underlying struggles of your son or daughter.
While traditional therapy can improve some of your child’s behavior, it can take months or years for any results. That’s time that you lose, time you can’t connect with your son or daughter because of some invisible barrier that neither side understands. As a Parent of an ASD learner, you want a better solution that will break down the barrier separating you.
Is there a better way to help your child?
Robots4Autism isn’t a correctional program. It’s a key that opens the world to people with ASD. RoboKind has created a friendly guide name Milo, a socially advanced robot with an emotive face, to help navigate the tricky parts of social behavior. His evidence-based curriculum, carefully structured with the assistance of autism experts, provides ASD learners with the tools they need to engage in social interactions, understand emotional cues, and develop self-regulating techniques.
Robots4Autism encourages ASD learners to move at their own pace. Milo’s friendly appearance and patient demeanor creates an environment free of judgement and stress. As your child progresses through Milo’s lessons they grow more comfortable, which in turn allows them to express themselves and communicate with others.
How successful is Milo?
Robots4Autism and Milo have returned tremendous results in breaking down the barrier between a child with ASD and their family. With an impressive 70 to 80 percent success rate, compared to the 3 percent success of traditional therapy, ASD learners interact and speak with others in as little as 3 to 6 weeks. A mother in Australia, Emma Arnett, shared her story of her son, Bailey, greeting a family friend for the first time.
“He jumped in front and stuck his hand out and said ‘Hi! How’s it going?’ and he’s never done that before,” Mrs. Arnett told Today Tonight, “and that was just the wow moment we knew Milo was working.”
In another story, a young man, named Cole, who had been in therapy for nearly a decade, after being diagnosed at the age 4, spoke to his family after one week of working with Milo. After working with Milo for three months, a little girl named Celia, who had 48 reported meltdowns in school during the previous semester and couldn’t be in classes with her peers, rejoined her classmates and now expressed her thoughts to friends and family.
How does the curriculum work?
RoboKind, with the assistance of autism experts, studied the most common issues that ASD learners struggle with, looked at the current practices available, and developed Robots4Autism to improve on existing solutions.
The common issues and how Milo helps
Establishing eye contact
People with ASD have a difficult time looking someone in the face. Milo’s non-threatening appearance is purposely designed to be cartoonish and establish a level of comfort that human’s simply can’t. As the child grows more comfortable, lessons are introduced that encourage group activities with others allowing for the ASD learners to transfer their lessons into real-world interactions.
Communication and understanding emotional cues
Often times, ASD learners struggle with communication as they do not know how to express themselves. Milo provides examples of emotions and explains using a mixture of expression, pictorial cues, and words. The lesson is further reinforced with tablet interactions and quick quiz games. Milo also teaches children how to greet someone, wait for a response, what to do if someone doesn’t respond, and end a conversation.
Self-regulating behavior
ASD brains absorb a lot of information at one time resulting in overstimulation. Since the ASD brain doesn’t know what to do with or how to stop taking in stimuli it has a meltdown. This is often displayed as a temper tantrum by ASD learners who lack suitable coping mechanics. A tantrum can also occur when a child is unable to express themselves or explain why they are frustrated. Milo’s calm down methods (counting to 10, deep breaths, taking a break, or squeezing a stress ball) provides your frustrated child with techniques to self-regulate their behavior to prevent future breakdowns.
After mastering Milo’s curriculum, your son or daughter won’t only able to interact with their environment, but also make meaningful connections with friends and family.
How can I get Milo into my child’s school?
First, know that your greatest ally is your child’s teacher. They want to help your child as much as you do. Threatening legal action or approaching with hostility can prevent an open conversation between you and the teacher.
Second, ask questions about your child’s individualized education program (IEP) and work with the teacher to establish measurable and realistic goals. Follow up with asking how these goals will be met, and what the end game really is, such as attending classes with other children.
Finally, if the school has not heard of Robots4Autism, provide them with information and a site to look at Robots4Autism.com. Or if you aren’t sure how to open a conversation, reach out to RoboKind for help with making that first step into breaking down the walls between you and your child.
Robots4Autism is more than a solution, it’s a stepping stone to unlocking your child’s potential. By giving people with ASD the tools of social interaction a world of possibility and opportunity opens. Most important of all, the barrier between you is gone.