Enhancing Independence: Non-Immersive Virtual Reality for Teaching Cooking Skills to High School Students With Intellectual Disability

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) is a promising avenue to enhance the independence and daily living skills of high school students with intellectual disability. This study investigated the efficacy of a non-immersive VR focused on teaching food preparation skills to secondary students with intellectual disability. Three high school students with intellectual disability participated in a multiple probe across participants single case design study, in which they engaged with non-immersive VR to learn to cook a grilled cheese sandwich on a stove. Researchers found students improved their accuracy with cooking a grilled cheese sandwich on a stove following intervention as measured by task analysis steps on a delayed probe. Students also maintained high levels of accuracy after the intervention ended. Researchers determined non-immersive VR an effective and efficient intervention for secondary students with intellectual disability learning daily living skills.