The Use and Understanding of Virtual Environments by Adolescents with Autistic Spectrum Disorders
ARTICLE
Sarah Parsons, Peter Mitchell, Anne Leonard
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Volume 34, Number 4, ISSN 0162-3257
Abstract
The potential of virtual environments for teaching people with autism has been positively promoted in recent years. The present study aimed to systematically investigate this potential with 12 participants with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs), each individually matched with comparison participants according to either verbal IQ or performance IQ, as well as gender and chronological age. Participants practised using a desktop "training" virtual environment, before completing a number of tasks in a virtual cafe. We examined time spent completing tasks, errors made, basic understanding of the representational quality of virtual environments and the social appropriateness of performance. The use of the environments by the participants with ASDs was on a par with their PIQ-matched counterparts, and the majority of the group seemed to have a basic understanding of the virtual environment as a representation of reality. However, some participants in the ASD group were significantly more likely to be judged as bumping into, or walking between, other people in the virtual scene, compared to their paired matches. This tendency could not be explained by executive dysfunction or a general motor difficulty. This might be a sign that understanding personal space is impaired in autism. Virtual environments might offer a useful tool for social skills training, and this would be a valuable topic for future research.
Citation
Parsons, S., Mitchell, P. & Leonard, A. (2004). The Use and Understanding of Virtual Environments by Adolescents with Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34(4), 449-466. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/99469/.
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Keywords
Cited By
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Virtual Reality Based Behavioural Learning for Autistic Children
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Matthew Schmidt, James Laffey, Krista Galyen, Ryan Babiuch & Xianhui Wang, University of Missouri, United States
E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2011 (Oct 18, 2011) pp. 897–905
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A brief review: assistive technology and autism, a proposal for virtual tools for improved communication and emotional recognition
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