Natural interfaces and virtual environments for the acquisition of street crossing and path following skills in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders: a feasibility study

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Mario Saiano ; Laura Pellegrino…
• 关键词：Natural interfaces ; Virtual environments ; Kinect ; Autism spectrum disorder ; Safety skills ; Adults
• 刊名：Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation
• 出版年：2015
• 出版时间：December 2015
• 年：2015
• 卷：12
• 期：1
• 全文大小：2,168 KB
• 参考文献：1. Oxley, JA, Ihsen, E, Fildes, BN, Charlton, JL, Day, RH (2005) Crossing roads safely: An experimental study of age differences in gap selection by pedestrians. Accident Anal Prev 37: pp. 962-71 CrossRef
  2. Wright, T, Wolery, M (2011) The effects of instructional interventions related to street crossing and individuals with disabilities. Res Dev Disabil 32: pp. 1455-63 CrossRef
  3. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - DSM-5. 5th edn: Amer Psychiatric Pub; 2013.
  4. Pennington, BF, Ozonoff, S (1996) Executive functions and developmental psychopathology. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 37: pp. 51-87 CrossRef
  5. Billstedt, E, Gillberg, IC, Gillberg, C (2005) Autism after adolescence: population-based 13- to 22-year follow-up study of 120 individuals with autism diagnosed in childhood. J Autism Dev Disord 35: pp. 351-60 CrossRef
  6. Strauss, D, Shavelle, R, Anderson, TW, Baumeister, A (1998) External causes of death among persons with developmental disability: the effect of residential placement. Am J Epidemiol 147: pp. 855-62 CrossRef
  7. Dixon, DR, Bergstrom, R, Smith, MN, Tarbox, J (2010) A review of research on procedures for teaching safety skills to persons with developmental disabilities. Res Dev Disabil 31: pp. 985-94 CrossRef
  8. Bellani, M, Fornasari, L, Chittaro, L, Brambilla, P (2011) Virtual reality in autism: state of the art. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci 20: pp. 235-8 CrossRef
  9. Parsons, S, Mitchell, P (2002) The potential of virtual reality in social skills training for people with autistic spectrum disorders. J Intellect Disabil Res 46: pp. 430-43 CrossRef
  10. Chittaro, L, Ranon, R (2007) Web3D technologies in learning, education and training: Motivations, issues, opportunities. Comput Educ 49: pp. 3-18 CrossRef
  11. Parsons, S, Cobb, S (2011) State-of-the-art of virtual reality technologies for children on the autism spectrum. Eur J Spec Needs Educ 26: pp. 355-66 CrossRef
  12. Vera, L, Campos, R, Herrera, G, Romero, C (2007) Computer graphics applications in the education process of people with learning difficulties. Comput Graph-Uk 31: pp. 649-58 CrossRef
  13. Strickland, D, Marcus, LM, Mesibov, GB, Hogan, K (1996) Brief report: Two case studies using virtual reality as a learning tool for autistic children. J Autism Dev Disord 26: pp. 651-9 CrossRef
  14. Parsons, S, Mitchell, P, Leonard, A (2004) The use and understanding of virtual environments by adolescents with autistic spectrum disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 34: pp. 449-66 CrossRef
  15. Mitchell, P, Parsons, S, Leonard, A (2007) Using virtual environments for teaching social understanding to 6 adolescents with autistic spectrum disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 37: pp. 589-600 CrossRef
  16. Herrera, G, Alcantud, F, Jordan, R, Blanquer, A, Labajo, G, Pablo, C (2008) Development of symbolic play through the use of virtual reality tools in children with autistic spectrum disorders: two case studies. Autism 12: pp. 143-57 CrossRef
  17. Yufang C, Moore D, McGrath P, Yulei F. Collaborative virtual environm
• 刊物主题：Neurosciences; Neurology; Rehabilitation Medicine; Biomedical Engineering;
• 出版者：BioMed Central
• ISSN：1743-0003

文摘

Background Lack of social skills and/or a reduced ability to determine when to use them are common symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Here we examine whether an integrated approach based on virtual environments and natural interfaces is effective in teaching safety skills in adults with ASD. We specifically focus on pedestrian skills, namely street crossing with or without traffic lights, and following road signs. Methods Seven adults with ASD explored a virtual environment (VE) representing a city (buildings, sidewalks, streets, squares), which was continuously displayed on a wide screen. A markerless motion capture device recorded the subjects-movements, which were translated into control commands for the VE according to a predefined vocabulary of gestures. The treatment protocol consisted of ten 45-minutes sessions (1 session/week). During a familiarization phase, the participants practiced the vocabulary of gestures. In a subsequent training phase, participants had to follow road signs (to either a police station or a pharmacy) and to cross streets with and without traffic lights. We assessed the performance in both street crossing (number and type of errors) and navigation (walking speed, path length and ability to turn without stopping). To assess their understanding of the practiced skill, before and after treatment subjects had to answer a test questionnaire. To assess transfer of the learned skill to real-life situations, another specific questionnaire was separately administered to both parents/legal guardians and the subjects-personal caregivers. Results One subject did not complete the familiarization phase because of problems with depth perception. The six subjects who completed the protocol easily learned the simple body gestures required to interact with the VE. Over sessions they significantly improved their navigation performance, but did not significantly reduce the errors made in street crossing. In the test questionnaire they exhibited no significant reduction in the number of errors. However, both parents and caregivers reported a significant improvement in the subjects-street crossing performance. Their answers were also highly consistent, thus pointing at a significant transfer to real-life behaviors. Conclusions Rehabilitation of adults with ASD mainly focuses on educational interventions that have an impact in their quality of life, which includes safety skills. Our results confirm that interaction with VEs may be effective in facilitating the acquisition of these skills.