Educators' perspectives on working with a humanoid robot in a French preschool class for autistic children

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Garnier, P., Martel, K., Dachez, J., Audry, P., Bourgoin, P., & Stawinski, F. (2023). Educators' perspectives on working with a humanoid robot in a French preschool class for autistic children. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 23(3), 163-174. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-3802.12588

Publication date: 6 Jan 2023 Added to AutiHub: 7 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
6
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 6 (16.7%)
  1. Philippe Garnier
  2. Karine Martel
  3. Julie Dachez *
  1. Pauline Audry
  2. Pascal Bourgoin
  3. Fleur Stawinski

Abstract

Humanoid robots have shown to provide interesting perspectives for autistic children. Yet, few studies have looked at educators' point of view on the use of such robots in educational settings. This paper presents a case study of the use of a humanoid robot, NAO, in a French preschool class dedicated to autistic children. Our work focuses on the perspectives of the adults working with these children. We interviewed the professional staff about changes in their teaching due to the presence of the robot, about the effects on the pupils' behaviour, and about the collaboration between the special needs teacher, the special needs support worker and the operational specialist from the digital education department of the district academic head office. Four themes were identified: joint reflection and collaboration when working with NAO, working with NAO, impact of NAO on pupils, impact of NAO on adults. The professionals underscored the necessity of adopting certain attitudes, in particular, the most neutral facial expression possible, so as not to disturb the children's learning process. They were under the impression that the robot had a beneficial effect on the pupils in terms of learning and social skills, and that it facilitated collaboration among them.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 12 Sep 2026 18:17.

Cited references
42
With a DOI
38
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
4
0 / 42 (0.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 42 (2.4%)
References with detected author names
41 / 42 (97.6%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
3
References with raw author names still to review
1
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
171
From DOI or external metadata
171
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
2
8 / 171 (4.7%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 163 / 171 (95.3%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
0 / 171 (0.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 0 / 8 (0.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 0 / 162 (0.0%).
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