An intelligent ecosystem to support the development of communication skills in children with autism: An experience based on ontologies, multi-sensory stimulation rooms, and robotic assistants

The term Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) covers conditions such as autism, childhood disintegrative disorder and Asperger syndrome. In this line, the World Health Organization (WHO) points that core symptoms of ASD are: a mixture of impaired capacity for reciprocal socio-communicative interaction and a restricted, stereotyped repetitive repertoire of interests and activities. Therefore, it is fundamental for a person with ASD to develop skills to communicate with his/her peers, share ideas, and express feelings. On those grounds, this chapter presents an intelligent ecosystem to support the development of social communication skills in children with ASD. The ecosystem uses a knowledge model that relies on ontologies, and defines the main elements that will be used for psychological intervention process. The different activities that will be carried out during the therapeutic intervention can be done using a robotic assistant or a Multi-Sensory Stimulation Room. This proposal has been tested with 47 children of regular schools, 9 specialists on ASD, and 36 children with ASD.