June 14, 2017
MENOMONEE FALLS – Logan Lucas always had trouble making friends.
Escorted by enthusiastic teachers, Logan’s mother, Nicole Lucas, walked into school ready to meet her son’s newest friend. Instead of a human, she was met with a plastic, smiling face — Milo the robot.
Standing at just 2 feet tall with funky chocolate brown hair and an outfit resembling a Power Ranger, there’s more to Milo than meets the eye.
People with autism spectrum disorder have a difficult time understanding social cues such as facial expressions that most of us take for granted. Milo helps children understand what a smile or frown means, how to calm down and handle themselves when upset and develop lead taking skills, like saying hello to people.
“A lifelike robot,” Nicole said in awe. “I had a doll like that when I was a kid but you had to move it yourself. But he is amazing and life-like and makes the angry face and the sad face.”
Logan, 8, sustained a febrile seizure at 22 months old. His words were gone, and Nicole’s sweet little boy was now aggressive and constantly agitated.
“Most of the scratches on my arms are from him and bites on the face,” said Karen Richie, a special education teacher at Shady Lane Elementary School who works with Logan. “I had staff people that wanted to wear long sleeves. He was just so difficult to work with, initially.”
But Logan is lucky to be attending Shady Lane. Only one other school in the state — Burleigh Elementary in Brookfield — has Milo.
Menomonee Falls Superintendent Patricia Fagan Greco participated in a workshop where she was able to see Milo in action. She immediately brought it back to the district, requesting a demo with Robokind, the company that created Milo. After the demo, the company agreed to let Shady Lane use the robot as a prototype to see the impact it could have on students.
“The progression he’s made since he started here… communication got better, bath and toileting got better,” Nicole said of Shady Lane. “Then along came Milo, and he started waving to everyone and his eye contact started to get better.”
At home, if his parents don’t maintain eye contact while waving or speaking, Logan grabs their chins and forces them to do the action again and look at him, Nicole said.
A feature of Milo that Richie appreciates most is his ability to consistently teach the same skills over and over again.
Read more at USAToday.com
