Using a 3D Immersive Virtual Environment System to Enhance Social Understanding and Social Skills for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have a severe deficiency in social understanding and skills. The present study utilized single-subject design ( N = 3) with multiple probes to investigate the effectiveness of a three-dimensional social understanding system with a head-mounted display to improve social understanding and skills in three children with ASD. We tested the proposed system based on immersive virtual environments. The target behaviors of non-verbal communication, social initiations, and social cognition for each participant and the impact of using immersive digital equipment with this population were examined simultaneously. A preliminary empirical study for three participants diagnosed with ASD was conducted over a 6-week period. The findings indicate that participants’ targeted behaviors improved from baseline to intervention through maintenance following their use of the system. These suggest that the system may present an effective learning environment for the promotion of social understanding and skills in children with ASD.