Travaillant depuis plusieurs années dans un hôpital de jour, accueillant des jeunes TSA âgés de 4 à 14 ans, nous avons mis en place, depuis 2016, des ateliers thérapeutiques à médiation robotique. Nous avons pu montrer, à plusieurs reprises, en quoi le robot était un outil innovant et intéressant dans la clinique des TSA, notamment du fait de son apparence simplifiée, de sa répétitivité et de sa prévisibilité. Dans le cadre de cet article, nous nous attarderons plus particulièrement sur l’aspect simplifié de la voix du robot, autre élément essentiel à prendre en compte dans ce type de médiation thérapeutique. En nous basant sur le cas d’un enfant autiste que nous avons suivi en atelier à médiation « robotique », nous tenterons de montrer en quoi le robot peut se faire « support » ou « relai » du sujet qui le contrôle ou, en tout cas, contenir une part de la propre subjectivité de celui-ci.

Working for several years in a day hospital receiving young people with ASD aged 4 to 14 years, we have introduced, since 2016, therapeutic interventions with robotic mediation. We have been able to show, in several publications, how the robot was an innovative and interesting medium in the ASD clinic, notably because of its simplified appearance, its repetitiveness and its predictability. In this article, we will focus on the simplified aspect of the robot's voice, an essential element to be taken into account in this type of therapeutic mediation.

Based on the case of an autistic child that we have followed in “robotic” mediation therapy, we will try to show how the robot can be a “support” or a “relay” of the subject who controls it, or in any case contain a part of the latter's own subjectivity.

David's case confirms that autistic subjects show a great difficulty to speak about themselves, in particular through the voice. Using the robot, and more precisely the text-to-speech function of the robot Nao, allows him to communicate his feelings. The live confrontation, too distressing for David, can thus be avoided by taking a roundabout way: making the robot speak for him, and thus trying to express his feelings orally, without being too personally involved.

One of the interests of the robot will be to be the support of an out-of-body voice, not directly addressed to the one who will be the receiver, thus allowing the autistic subject to communicate without having to go through the vibration of his body provoked by the voice, nor to be confronted with the direct meeting with another subject situated in the field of the address of the speech. Thus, even when the autistic child speaks through the machine, something is said in what is heard.