Virtual reality technology to support the independent living of children with autism

Abstract

Many designed systems have shown the potential of virtual reality (VR) to greatly transform autism treatment studies. Indeed, the literature shows that treatment via VR is appropriate for effective and repeatable training, without the intense anxiety, allowing trainees to recognize and modulate errors as they occur. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a new VR-based learning environment designed to safely practice and rehearse the daily activities related to the school world in children affected with autism. A total of nine children with autism actively enrolled in the study to learn and test their street crossing skills and social attention. Incremental change of difficulty levels has been added to the designed environment to generalize real-world situations, this includes overlaid distraction audio and increased vehicles intensity and speed. In order to enhance the learning experience, the real-time feedback is given according to the participant’s behavior, additionally, post processing profile is given for analysis purpose, where the participant’s behavior can be reviewed by parents and therapist to determine whether the participant’s mistakes are in decision making or focusing attention. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test for a single sample was used to test the change in the skills of participants with autism after using the educationally and therapeutically VR technology compared to a baseline. As a result, significant effects were found on the behavioral measures indicating that the VR-based learning environment is promoting a positive and informative learning environment.