Rethinking robot-assisted autism interventions: A developmental misalignment framework in ethics, cognition, and context
Research in Autism, cilt.136, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 136
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.reia.2026.202969
- Dergi Adı: Research in Autism
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Autism, Critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) methodology, Naturalistic teaching, Pedagogical effectiveness, Robot-assisted instruction, Social interaction
- Hatay Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır
Özet
This study aims to critically examine robot-assisted instructional practices from a pedagogical perspective concerning the developmental and social-cognitive needs of children with autism. Using the Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS) methodology, this critical review analyzes findings from 29 studies. According to the studies, robots mostly exhibit benefits in short-term, organized, low-demand interactions; however, these benefits do not translate to natural social circumstances. The findings further suggest that robots’ limited capacities for gesture, facial expression, prosody, and intentionality restrain their ability to support the multi-layered processes underlying social cognition. Moreover, mechanical language use and interaction patterns raise theoretical concerns regarding communication and language development in children with autism that warrant careful empirical scrutiny. Given these findings, the current evidence base supports positioning robot-assisted instruction as a time-limited, supplementary tool targeting specific, structured sub-skills rather than as a primary method for broad social-cognitive development. Evidence-based practices that emphasize naturalistic, relationship-based, and contextually embedded learning are identified as better aligned with the developmental and contextual requirements of children with autism for supporting long-term developmental outcomes. Accordingly, this paper proposes the Developmental Mismatch Framework (DMF), which conceptualizes the structural incongruence between robots’ social representational capacities and the natural social-cognitive requirements of children with autism across interactional, cognitive, and contextual dimensions.