“QTrobot for autism is our own personal at-home robot tutor and in the past 6 months, we have been using it every night to do a little bit of learning in a consistent way. My children respond very well to QTrobot and they are certainly more motivated to respond to QT asking them than me as their mom.” Says Jade, who is the mother of two sons with ASD, who are 5 and 7 years old.
The first day we brought out QTrobot my 7 years old was extremely excited. Now 6 months later he still comes running when he sees QT come out. The robot in itself is a motivator for him to interact and engage which is fantastic. My 5 years old seems to find QT very funny and will often get the giggles with him.
Every evening after school the kids watch some TV then they do 10 minutes each on QT followed by reading their school books before tea. At the weekends we may do a couple of units in the morning. My boys both have communication challenges including attention so short consistent learning works really well for us.
Essentially QTrobot takes the role of teacher and interacts with children as they complete tasks / games on a tablet. You are there as an assistant but the robot is the one making the requests. This works really well for my kids who certainly find requests from me (or people in general) more difficult.
QTrobot comes with tons of pre-programmed activities and a range of units all related to early years development, emotions and social skills. It provides a consistent approach to learning a range of skills and fits nicely into our daily routine so works really well for us. Each unit is very short between 5-10 minutes so this is perfect particularly with my 5 years old who has a very short attention span.
This is very useful for me as a busy mom, since I don’t need to pre-plan the activities and particularly since both of my boys really rely on visuals for learning and the visuals already come along with QT. I find it hard to have the time to have activities ready that will support them so having QT with all the activities set up and ready to go makes a big difference. This way I don’t need to spend time on printing and preparing materials for our activities.
“For me, it’s lovely to see my children learning in a different way. They also get engaged in some activities that I didn’t think he will do, such as copying faces. I was really surprised when he was excitedly copying emotions. He was copying the happy face and sad face and excited face from QT and genuinely enjoying it.”
It is really helpful that with QTrobot, I can teach them in a consistent way and it really fits nicely in our routine. Each day we can decide which units we want to do. My boys are at different levels, but it is nice that I can use the same robot for both of them. I just need to follow different units at different times. The robot also allows me to select which child is playing so their data is separated which is really helpful and I can monitor their progress and the session reports separately.
I have definitely seen progress with both the boys in attention and language skills. I love that the expressive language units allow for my son to use his PECS to respond. Also, I have really noticed with my 7 years old that he is engaging more with me as well as the robot in our sessions. This is a real plus for me, it’s that interactive element that QT provides that you don’t get just using an app-based system.
QTrobot engages really nicely with children and I have to say my sons are now quite connected to it. My 7 years old gets really excited when he sees QTrobot come out and he comes and engages with the robot. This is really brilliant to see! I love watching the excitement from my 7 years old when we are using QT. At the end of each session QT says ‘see you later’ whilst waving and my son excitedly waves back, clearly bonded with his robot friend.
“I have really noticed with my 7 years old that he is engaging more with me as well as the robot in our sessions. This is a real plus for me, it’s that interactive element that QT provides that you don’t get just using an app-based system.”
For me it’s lovely to see him learn in a different way. He also gets engaged on some activities that I didn’t think he will do, such as copying faces. I was really surprised when he was excitedly copying emotions. He was copying the happy face and sad face and excited face from QT and genuinely enjoying it.
Whilst there is the odd day that particularly my youngest is tired and less engaged overall our experience with QT has been very positive. I know my boys have delays and need extra support in their learning. They also need structure, routine and consistency all of which QT provides.
I am a big believer that children need to have fun while they are learning and who wouldn’t have fun with a robot as your teacher. My boys really enjoy working with the robot and for me it is the key to learning. My youngest is often repeating phrases he has learned from the robot, his current favorites being ‘bravo’ and ‘tadaaa’.
A QTrobot is a long-term investment and something I would recommend for those wanting to provide consistent support to learning over a long period of time. I have had private speech therapists work with the boys at home and often they would only really engage with the first 15- 20 minutes of the hour I was paying for. This is where having QTrobot at home allows you to have a little each day and longer when it suits you and your child.
QTrobot for parents of children with autism and SEN:
QTrobot is a humanoid expressive robot for parents of children with autism for at-home education and teaching social, emotional and communication skills.
QTrobot provides a friendly and effective setup to attract children’s attention for teaching and practising life skills at home.
