Teachers' Perceived Acceptability towards Deploying Humanoid Robot KASPAR for Children with ASD in Primary Schools

In Malaysia, the number of autistic children registered under the Department of Social Welfare has been increasing dramatically from 6,991 childrenin 2013 to 53,323 children in 2023. Additionally, a study reported that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was highest among primary schoolchildren compared to those in preschool and secondary schools. A recent newsstated that Malaysia requires more specialist teachers, advanced infrastructure,quality curriculum, and individualised education plan to support children withspecial needs, such as ASD. As such, it becomes increasingly crucial for teachersto adapt their teaching methods and tools to better support these children. Somestudies have shown that integration of technology, particularly humanoid robots,such as KASPAR, offers a promising avenue for enhancing engagement andlearning outcome among students with ASD. Nevertheless, research focusing exclusively on teachers’ perception in adopting humanoid robots for children withASD remains underexplored in Malaysia. This study used a quantitative approach, wherein survey forms were administered to the respondents. The datawas collected from the teachers who were watching their ASD students’ engagement sessions with Kaspar. They were asked about their opinion on the potentialof using KASPAR in their teaching with ASD students. A total of 14 teachersfrom three primary schools who are teaching in the Special Education IntegratedProgramme (SEIP) are involved in this study. The data was analysed using descriptive analysis on performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions and attitude. The results showed that generally teachers have a positive perception of KASPAR in their teaching and learning activities.