Reaction and Learning Evaluation of a Non-immersive Virtual Reality Application for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental condition that involves persistent challenges in social interaction, speech, and nonverbal communication, in addition to repetitive or restrictive behaviours. For decades, children with ASD have been familiarising themselves with information and communication technologies (ICT) in their training and diagnosis. One of the ICT areas, namely non-immersive virtual reality (NIVR), has become a noticeable tool to help ASD children in their social training. It provides extensive virtual interaction, a safe environment, and is affordable. An NIVR application is developed to assist the intervention on ASD children. However, the whole experiences of the training need to be validated to conclude its effectiveness.   Methods: A case study was employed as the research method. An evaluation of NIVR application using multiple sources of evidence was guided by Kirkpatrick Model of Evaluation (KME) which was executed via questionnaires, pre- and post-test. The main objectives of this research were to evaluate level 1 and 2 of KME. The target for Level 1 is to assess the reactions to the NIVR application. Level 2 is to gauge the knowledge, confidence, or mindset of participants. Level 2 covers the evaluation prior to the training (pre-test) and after the training (post-test).   Results: On average the ASD children had good experiences and were able to improve their social skills with the NIVR application. Therefore, the combination of serious game, analytics and specific VR type provides good data assessment, facilitate comfortable training, and can be an effective intervention for children with ASD.  Conclusion: The positive trend on both levels shows that the application has a good potential to be used in ASD training. The results could be improved in a higher number of participants. Currently, only a limited number of research participants could be obtained due to the COVID-19 pandemic.