Bellani, M., Fornasari, L., Chittaro, L., Brambilla, P.
"Virtual reality in autism: state of the art", Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 20(3): 235-238.
Link to the pre-print article
hcilab.uniud.it/publications/2011-03/VRInAutismEPS.pdf
Objective: This short article reviews eight “behavioural studies investigating VR in patients with Autism disorders and healthy subjects.”
Variations in the domains of social interaction, communication and repetitive behaviour characterize Autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Virtual reality or the creation of virtual environments is potentially useful as a treatment medium for ASD. Stimuli can be managed to permit focus on selected activities; concept learning and activity practice can occur repeatedly. And hopefully the environments are realistic enough to prompt transfer to real world interactions.
Findings: Several studies found positive improvements in because safe, repeatable diversifiable tool for learning. The eight studies found that when children can limit off-task behaviour, complete the tasks, they may improve performance. Two studies found that newly gained skills generalized outside the virtual environment.