Virtual Reality and Augmented Social Training for Autism

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请描述了一个新颖和创新的研究项目，旨在研究虚拟现实（VR）技术的治疗应用，以解决高功能自闭症儿童（HFA）的社交技能训练（SST）的普遍性问题。一些研究表明，SST有可能显著改善HFA儿童的适应行为和生活质量。然而，成本和安全问题阻碍了SST干预范式包括有效的方法来实践和推广社会技能，超出了干预的直接背景。因此，通用性问题目前阻碍了为HFA儿童制定最有效的SST方案的进展。解决这一问题的一个潜在方法是应用先进的虚拟现实技术，为HFA儿童提供社交技能练习环境。与“现实生活”相比，虚拟现实环境可以为HFA儿童提供多种但更受控制和更安全的社会环境，以练习社交技能，最大限度地提高学习效果，同时最大限度地降低失败和负强化学习的风险(（McGeorge et al. 2001; Parsons et al. 2006; Standen & Brown, 2005）。因此，本应用程序R21阶段的主要目标是将虚拟社会互动研究方面的专业知识与自闭症临床科学方面的专业知识结合起来，开发VR社交技能练习任务，可用于增强当前对HFA儿童的SST干预方法。R33阶段的目标是对42名年龄在8至18岁之间的HFA儿童进行初始随机病例对照试验，以验证VR增强SST的有效性。R33阶段的研究也将被设计用于对与行为激活相关的执行自我监控和动机措施的新假设进行实证检验，以预测HFA对治疗反应性的个体差异（Mundy et al. 2007）。预计该研究项目的结果将支持开展更大规模的随机对照研究，研究VR增强SST对HFA儿童的疗效。研究结果还将支持对影响自闭症患者干预反应的个体差异的因素进行更大规模的理论研究。此外，尽管本研究最初的治疗重点将放在HFA儿童的SST上，但我们有理由期待，在本研究过程中开发的一般原则、程序和VR干预平台，将有可能在一系列背景（即家庭、诊所和学校）中广泛、经济有效地应用于各种其他神经发育障碍（如多动症）的干预。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application describes a novel and innovative program of research designed to examine the therapeutic applications of virtual reality (VR) technology to solve the problem of generalizability of social skills training (SST) for children with higher functioning autism (HFA). Several studies indicate that SST has the potential to significantly improve the adaptive behaviors and quality of life of HFA children. However, cost and safety issues have prevented SST intervention paradigms from including effective methods to practice and generalize social skills beyond the immediate contexts of intervention. Therefore, the problem of generalizability currently impedes progress on the development of optimally effective SST programs for HFA children. One potential means for addressing this problem is to apply advances in VR technology to provide social skills practice environments for HFA children. VR environments may provide HFA children with varied but more controlled and safer social contexts, than are available in "real life", to practice social skills exercises that maximize learning while minimizing risks of failure and negative reinforcement learning ((McGeorge et al. 2001; Parsons et al. 2006; Standen & Brown, 2005). Therefore, a major aim of the R21 phase of this application is to bring together expertise in the study of virtual social interactions with expertise in the clinical science of autism to develop VR social skills practice tasks that may be used to augment current SST intervention methods for HFA children. A goal of the R33 phase is to provide an initial randomized case control test of the effectiveness of VR augmentation of SST with 42 HFA children between the ages of 8 and 18. The R33 phase of research will also be designed to provide empirical tests of novel hypotheses about measures of executive self monitoring and motivation associated with behavioral activation t may predict individual differences in responsiveness of HFA to treatment (Mundy et al. 2007). It is anticipated that the results of this program of research will support the development of a larger randomized controlled efficacy study of VR augmented SST for HFA children. The results will also support larger theory based examinations of the factors that affect individual differences in intervention responsiveness in autism. In addition, although the initial therapeutic focus of this research will be on SST for HFA children it is reasonable to expect that the general principles, procedures and VR intervention platforms developed in the course of this research will have the potential for widespread, cost-effective applications to interventions for a variety of other neuro- developmental disorders (e.g. ADHD) across a range of context (i.e. home, clinics and schools).