Anders Dechsling1, Frederick Shic2, Dajie Zhang3, Peter B Marschik4, Gianluca Esposito5, Stian Orm6, Stefan Sütterlin7, Tamara Kalandadze8, Roald A Øien9, Anders Nordahl-Hansen8. 1. Faculty of Education, Østfold University College, Norway. Electronic address: anders.dechsling@hiof.no. 2. Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children's, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, USA. 3. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Systemic Ethology and Development Research, University Medical Center Göttingen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Göttingen, Germany; iDN - Interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Austria. 4. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Systemic Ethology and Development Research, University Medical Center Göttingen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Göttingen, Germany; iDN - Interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Austria; Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden. 5. Psychology Program - SSS, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Italy. 6. Frambu Resource Centre for Rare Disorders, Norway. 7. Division of Clinical Neuroscience, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; Faculty of Health and Welfare, Østfold University College, Norway. 8. Faculty of Education, Østfold University College, Norway. 9. Department of Education, The Arctic University of Norway - University of Tromsø, Norway; Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, USA.
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.
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.
Authors: Oswald D Kothgassner; Andreas Goreis; Ines Bauda; Amelie Ziegenaus; Lisa M Glenk; Anna Felnhofer Journal: Wien Klin Wochenschr Date: 2022-01-06 Impact factor: 1.704
Authors: Anders Dechsling; Stian Orm; Tamara Kalandadze; Stefan Sütterlin; Roald A Øien; Frederick Shic; Anders Nordahl-Hansen Journal: J Autism Dev Disord Date: 2021-11-16