Virtual reality and naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder.
No one has yet married VR with NDBI, so Anders hands us the wedding plan.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Dechsling et al. (2021) searched every corner of the research world. They wanted to know: has anyone paired virtual reality with naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBI) for kids with autism?
They did not run a new experiment. Instead they mapped the literature like making a big road map. They coined the term VNDBI to describe the spot where VR and NDBI could meet.
What they found
They found zero studies that already blend VR with full NDBI packages. The map is blank.
The authors then drew a blueprint. They list the parts needed to build VNDBI sessions, such as child-led play, adult modeling, and real-time feedback inside a headset.
How this fits with other research
Sparaci et al. (2015) first drew the NDBI umbrella. Anders takes that same umbrella and says, "Now let’s hold it inside VR."
Fisher et al. (2020) already showed parents can learn ABA skills through Zoom role-play. Anders wants to move past Zoom into full VR worlds for the child, not just the parent.
Herrera et al. (2008) gave two boys VR play sessions and saw pretend play jump. Their small case series is an early dot on the map that Anders now tries to connect into a bigger picture.
Why it matters
If you run early-intervention sessions, keep an eye on VR headsets. No VNDBI program is ready to buy today, but the pieces exist. You can start small: film short 360-degree video models of peer play and let kids practice with cheap goggles. Track eye gaze and social bids just like you would in a living-room session. When full VNDBI kits arrive, you will already know how to fold them into your naturalistic routines.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBI) have been evaluated as the most promising interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder. In recent years, a growing body of literature suggests that technological advancements such as Virtual Reality (VR) are promising intervention tools. However, to the best of our knowledge no studies have combined evidence-based practice with such tools. AIM: This article aims to review the current literature combining NDBI and VR, and provide suggestions on merging NDBI-approaches with VR. METHODS: This article is divided into two parts, where we first conduct a review mapping the research applying NDBI-approaches in VR. In the second part we argue how to apply the common features of NDBI into VR-technology. RESULTS: Our findings show that no VR-studies explicitly rely on NDBI-approaches, but some utilize elements in their interventions that are considered to be common features to NDBI. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: As the results show, to date, no VR-based studies have utilized NDBI in their intervention. We therefore, in the second part of this article, suggests ways to merge VR and NDBI and introduce the term Virtual Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (VNDBI). VNDBI is an innovative way of implementing NDBI which will contribute in making interventions more accessible in central as well as remote locations, while reducing unwanted variation between service sites. VNDBI will advance the possibilities of individually tailoring and widen the area of interventions. In addition, VNDBI can provide the field with new knowledge on effective components enhancing the accuracy in the intervention packages and thus move forward the research field and clinical practice.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2021 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2021.103885