Training road crossing skills for young people with intellectual disabilities using virtual reality: a feasibility study
PubDate: December 2019
Teams: University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland
Writers: Robin Cherix, Francesco Carrino, Geneviève Piérart,Omar Abou Khaled, Elena Mugellini, Dominique Wunderle
Abstract
Virtual Reality (VR) has three main advantages: allowing safe simulations, experimenting different conditions for the same scenario, and providing the perfect replicability of the scenarios. We present a feasibility study on the use of VR and VR immersive headsets to assist young adults (10-18) with intellectual disabilities in learning new skills. We focused on the scenario of a pedestrian crossing without traffic lights, and we considered several environmental conditions (day/night, weather, kindness of drivers, etc.). Our study is not limited to young people with autism spectrum disorder but takes into account young adults with intellectual disability with an associated disorder. 15 young people participated in the study showing a very good acceptability of immersive headsets and a noticeable learning effect already after a short training session. However, a longer and more extensive study is needed to evaluate the transfer of learning to reality.
