Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Synchrony In Typically Developing Children and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)/ADHD Between 4-10 Years of Age

Background: Dual-limb coordination such as clapping and marching emerges earlier in development than multilimb coordination, for example marching while clapping (Getchell, 2007). In addition, the difference between self-coordination (actions performed on your own) and social coordination (joint actions done as one follows a leader) within such multilimb motions is unknown. Currently, we are evaluating whether imitation training within a robot-adult-child context facilitates self and social coordination of typically developing children and children with ASDs/ADHD between 4-10 years of age.

Objectives: To examine the effects of robot-adult-child interaction training on the self and social coordination of typically developing children and high-functioning children with ASDs/ADHD between 4-10 years of age during dual and multilimb motions.

Methods: Eight, 4-6 year olds (group 1) and seven, 6-8 year olds (group 2) were observed before and after training during three conditions: only clap, only march, clap and march and across two contexts: self and social. The training involved eight, 30-minute sessions of robot-adult-child interactions. During the sessions, each child practiced complex movement patterns based on karate and dance themes demonstrated by a 7-inch tall, humanoid robot. Mean and coefficient of variation (CV) of amplitude and duration of clap and march motions were compared across conditions, across contexts, between groups, and before and after training. A higher CV indicated greater movement variability.

Results: During the self context, we replicated the findings of increased movement variability in amplitude (group 1 and 2, p<0.05) and duration (group 2, p <0.05) during multilimb motions (march and clap) of the hands as compared to dual-limb motions (only clap). Moreover, the variability was greater for the post-test than the pretest in group 1 (p<0.05). During the social context, there were no differences between dual and multilimb motions due to increased overall variability in the social context. In terms of social versus self contexts, the social context was more variable than the self context for both groups during dual-limb motions only. There were no clear differences between the pre and posttests for the TD children. On the other hand, one child with ASD and another child with ADHD showed reduced variability in the posttest as compared to the pretest for both dual- and multilimb motions of the self context. In contrast, social context significantly increased the movement variability of the child with ASD whereas it reduced the variability and improved the motor performance of the child with ADHD.

Conclusions: The march-clap paradigm findings were replicated for both TD children and those with ASDs/ADHD. Among TD children, multilimb motions were more variable than dual-limb motions.  During dual-limb motions like clapping, social context increased movement variability as compared to the self context. Interestingly, the social context significantly impaired the motor performance of the child with ASD whereas it enhanced the motor performance of the child with ADHD. Overall, there were no training effects in the TD children whereas both children with ASD/ADHD reduced movement variability and showed better motor performance after training.