Virtual Reality Application Offers Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder a Way to Practice Social Skills
For children with autism spectrum disorder, social interactions can be awkward or difficult to navigate, whether the situation is a conversation in the hallway at school or buying a candy bar at a convenience store. While researchers have shown that practicing these interactions as often as possible is key to long-term development and improvement, it can be difficult to repeat or practice in-person as much as a child needs to feel confident.
The solution may be found in virtual reality applications being developed by researchers at the University of Kansas.
The VOISS, or Virtual Reality Opportunities to Integrate Social Skills walks users through a variety of potential social interactions. It can be presented in a two-dimensional way on a tablet or laptop, or it can be used with a virtual reality headset.
“Repeated exposure to improving social skills is key for effective long-term development,” said Sean Smith, the principal investigator of the project and a professor of special education at KU. “However, face-to-face interactions may not always offer the forgiveness or repetition that is required for someone to learn from it.”
In development for more than 10 years, VOISS is in the midst of a five-year, $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Smith is leading the project with co-investigator Amber Rowland, associate research professor in KU’s Center for Research on Learning, which is a part of the Life Span Institute, and with Bruce Frey, professor of research psychology.
Now, teachers and students at 17 schools are testing VOISS, even when schools turned to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. To support educators and build their capacity in social skill instruction, the team recently launched the VOISS Advisor, an implementation website. It includes video demonstrations of the app, and lesson plans that help students take what they learned and practiced in virtual reality and then, practice and use those skills in a physical space.
“VOISS Advisor provides the tools that an educator needs in order to feel confident teaching social skills,” Rowland said.
Children using VOISS can practice social skills repeatedly.
VOISS includes scenarios such as being in a classroom.
Practice and repeat
Rowland said that whether it’s the small talk in the hallway or with a cashier at the supermarket, a VOISS user can practice what to say and do in each situation. They can play the role of themselves, or look at the interaction from the perspective of other people in the scene. More than 140 scenarios are being developed for users to practice these basic interactions. The app is available through Google Play.
In addition to practice with the experiences, the goal is to help students generalize the interaction from on-screen to their reality, or from the classroom setting to a grocery store, for example. Ultimately, Smith said, the researchers are determining if the availability of safe and repeated interactions in an online environment increases that ability to generalize the interaction.
After each guided scenario, there are questions that serve as an assessment for how the situation was handled. From there, all of this data is added to a dashboard for an educator or other professional to review.
The drive for the project stems from Smith and Rowland’s passion for innovation, specifically within education and technology.
“Technology can make a big difference for students with disabilities, but oftentimes it's not being used or implemented effectively,” Smith said.
Rowland added, “Researchers and developers are currently using virtual reality to practice social skills and yet, we are the only team looking at how to support educators and students as they generalize from the virtual environment, into the physical space.”
School districts that are interested in participating or want to learn more can reach out to Rowland or Smith or complete the VOISS interest form.
Top image credit: iStock.com
Middle images credit: Amber Rowland
More from this issue
Community-KU Collaboration Aims to Reduce Youth Violence
Grant Focuses on Identifying Genetic Pathways for Language Disorder
