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Therapeutic application of virtual reality for children with autism spectrum disorders

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Therapeutic application of virtual reality for children with autism spectrum disorders

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Individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulty with social and emotional interactions.  They experience extreme difficulty comprehending and processing emotional cues of their peers.  This leads to perception of ASD individuals as being indifferent to the feelings of others and subsequent rejection by their peers.
Immersive virtual reality system(IVRS) is different than most current virtual reality in that the user is "stepping" into a life size computer simulated environment versus viewing on a desktop screen.  This provides for more realistic simulation.
In this study researchers compared the use of desktop virtual reality and IVRS in 40 children ages 7-14 with ASD.  The specific simulation was developed in partnership with teachers and families to help train children with ASD to improve their social skills.  There were 10 different social scenarios for the students in which the student interacted with the virtual peers and was given feedback on appropriateness of their responses.  The results of the study were that the students in the IVRS had significantly more appropriate social responses than those in the desktop group (Lorenzo, et. al, 2016).

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photo retrieved from:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_ElV7iIKp1M/maxresdefault.jpg

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Ability to train social skills in an environment free from embarassment and humiliation.
Sophisticated technology that is able to provide a dynamic, lifelike social scenarios such as birthday parties and school.  This enables these children to practice their social skills in difficult to navigate and rare social scenarios.

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The cost of purchasing the equipment is anywhere from $30,000 and up depending on the sophistication of the system (http://www.vrealities.com/products/vr-domes).  This is simply for the IVR equipment is does not include the cost of programming for the therapy.
Another major concern is the cost to the patient.  This new therapy would have to be submitted for approval for insurance and medicaid coverage, otherwise it would likely by to costly for most families.

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This technology has enormous potential to help children with ASD or any children with difficulty discerning and processing social and emotional cues.  The real time adaptability of the training is amazing.  If the child "walks off" from the children in the simulation they are capable of responding and getting the childs attention to return.  If the child is uncertain how to respond or gives an inappropriate response the trainer is able to give immediate feedback and discuss choices of more appropriate responses.  I think this therapy has the potential to improve social skills and have a massive positive impact on the lives of the patients affected by ASD.
Also in my research for this project I saw many other applications of VR that are incredible, such as simulating familiar environments for Alzheimers patients.  Another highly valuable VR application was   This tehnology is amazing and has great potential for so many different applications in healthcare.

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This is a credible source located from a database search from ScienceDirect.  The source article was published in the peer-reviewed journal Computers & Education. No disclosure is given regarding conflict of interest.

Gonzalo Lorenzo and Asuncion Lledo are from the Department of Development Psychology and Teaching, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain.

Jorge Pomares from the Department of Physics, Systems Engineering and Sign Theory, University of Alicante, Spain.

Rosabel Roig from the Department of General and Specific Didactics, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain.

References
Lorenzo, G., Lledo, A., Pomares, J., & Roig, R. (2016). Design and application of an immersive virtual reality system to enhance emotional skills for children with autism spectrum disorders. Computers & Education, 98, 192-205. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.03.018