Pivotal response treatment (PRT) is a promising intervention focused on improving social communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Since robots potentially appeal to children with ASD and may contribute to their motivation for social interaction, this exploratory randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted comparing PRT (PRT and robot-assisted PRT) with treatment-as-usual (TAU). Seventy-three children (PRT: n = 25; PRT + robot: n = 25; TAU: n = 23) with ASD, aged 3–8 years were assessed at baseline, after 10 and 20 weeks of intervention, and at 3-month follow-up. There were no significant group differences on parent- and teacher-rated general social-communicative skills and blindly rated global functioning directly after treatment. However, at follow-up largest gains were observed in robot-assisted PRT compared to other groups. These results suggest that robot-assistance may contribute to intervention efficacy for children with ASD when using game scenarios for robot-child interaction during multiple sessions combined with motivational components of PRT. This trial is registered at https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/4487; NL4487/NTR4712 (2014-08-01).

关键反应治疗 (PRT) 是一种很有前途的干预措施，专注于提高自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 儿童的社交沟通技巧。由于机器人可能会吸引患有 ASD 的儿童，并可能有助于他们进行社交互动，因此进行了这项探索性随机对照试验 (RCT)，将 PRT（PRT 和机器人辅助 PRT）与常规治疗 (TAU) 进行了比较。七十三个孩子（PRT：n  =25；PRT+机器人：n  =25；TAU：n = 23) 患有 ASD，年龄 3-8 岁，在基线、干预 10 周和 20 周后以及 3 个月随访时进行了评估。父母和老师评定的一般社交沟通技能和治疗后直接盲目评价整体功能方面没有显着的组间差异。然而，与其他组相比，在机器人辅助 PRT 中观察到最大的收益。这些结果表明，在多个会话期间使用游戏场景进行机器人-儿童互动并结合 PRT 的激励成分时，机器人辅助可能有助于 ASD 儿童的干预效果。该试验已在 https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/4487 注册；NL4487/NTR4712 (2014-08-01)。