Abstract
Children with developmental disabilities (DDs) have sensory modulation disorders that interrelate school performance. Virtual reality (VR) has demonstrated the potential to become a neuropsychological assessment modality. This study was conducted to explore the feasibility of the VR classroom for assessing their characteristics of gaze, school performance, and interoception. School-aged children were assigned to the DD group or control group. A VR classroom was designed to evaluate their gaze patterns to distracting events. Interoception was assessed using the Heart Rate Perception test and the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA). The DD group had a significantly longer gaze duration on the virtual teacher during 30–45 s of the VR classroom event (p < 0.05). The mean score of the quiz and the Heart Rate Perception test showed a significant tendency to be lower than the children of the control group. The DD group scored significantly lower in six of eight subscales of the MAIA. These results showed the potential of VR classroom to evaluate the difference of sensory modulation between school-aged children with DDs and typically developed children. Future research is necessary to investigate the validity of the VR environment used in this study.
Highlights
The results of the Shapiro–Wilk test showed that normality was confirmed regarding age; gaze duration of 0–15 s, 15–30 s, 30–45 s, 45–60 s gaze time, and 60–75 s gaze time; interoception score; and Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) subscale Not Distracting, Not Worrying, Attention
The findings of the present study indicate that children with developmental disabilities (DDs) may gaze at objects and perceive body sensations differently in the Virtual reality (VR) classroom
Due to the considerably longer gaze time at the same object and the trend of lower comprehension among them, it is hypothesized that future research on hyper-focus and weak central coherence could be helpful
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are neurodevelopmental disorders that significantly affect cognitive and social development. The estimated prevalence of ASD was 18.5 per 1000 (one in 54) children in the United States [1]. The ADHD/HD worldwide-pooled prevalence was 5.29% [2], and
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