ASD-Chat: An Innovative Dialogue Intervention System for Children with Autism based on LLM and VB-MAPP

The main problem of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is communication barriers, resulting in social impairment in their daily lives. However, previous research on autism dialogue intervention computer-assisted systems overlooks two important aspects: paradigm design lacks a theoretical foundation in clinical intervention methods, and evaluation of system effectiveness is based solely on behavioral performance, neglecting physiological signal. Based on the aforementioned points, we proposed ASD-Chat, a social intervention system based on VB-MAPP (Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program) powered by LLM (Large Language Model) for dialogue generation. We used the same paradigm for 12 ASD children to engage in thematic dialogues with both ASD-Chat and professional interventionists. Behavioral performance and physiological signal analysis results indicate that the ASD-Chat system achieves competitive intervention effects comparable to those of professional interventionists. This indicates that the dialogue paradigm and prototype system we designed have the potential for long-term intervention in the future.