SGER: Development of an Interactive Virtual Environment for Delivery of Rehabilitative Intervention to Children with Social Cognitive Deficits

Catholic University Of America, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

This project explores issues in the application of virtual reality environments to assist pre-school-aged children newly diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. The PI will develop and evaluate a tool that integrates virtual reality display with eye-tracking and sensing of other physiological and intentional signals in an appealing non-restrictive play environment, in order to deliver a rehabilitative intervention. The system to be developed is driven both by empirical findings and by theory. The literature reports a high degree of success for discrete trial training with some autistic children, with greater success the younger the age at which intervention is begun. Computerized implementation of discrete trial technology may improve its effectiveness, since eye-tracking and other sensors will record target behaviors more precisely and displays will deliver immediate contingent rewards more reliably than human trainers can accomplish. The theory that informs our approach is that failure to establish social attention in infancy is a key factor in the autistic developmental syndrome. The intervention, therefore, uses the discrete trial methods to teach social attention and other basic social skills that the typically-developing child acquires (without training) in the first year of life, and that children with autism lack. A Virtual Playmate will share enjoyable experiences with the child (music, interactive games, and "rides" in the motorized chair in which the child is seated) as rewards for gains in target behaviors such as visual fixation on the playmate's eyes, vocal response to the playmate's expressions of emotion, joint attention (looking where the virtual playmate is looking), and other social skills that are vital to social interaction. Training for skill maintenance and generalization will incorporate virtual versions of toys and models of individuals from the child's actual environment. A successful outcome to this project will ultimately improve autistic children's ability to take part in peer social interactions and move them closer to a typical developmental path so that they can become participating members of society.