The independence of children with autism depends on their receiving treatment in natural settings. One of the main problems they face is their inability to learn how to safely cross the street, a necessary skill for independent living.

While acquiring this skill could greatly improve these children’s independence, most of the methods for teaching street crossing have been designed for use within the classroom, and they have been shown as insufficiently effective among autistic children.

The best way to teach children with autism skills is through repeated practice in natural settings, but the danger of learning to cross the street in a natural setting obviously prohibits this method. This is where virtual reality is very effective, as demonstrated by the research team, which included Hadass Milika Ben-Chaim, OT; Shula Friedrich, principal of the Israel-based University of Haifa Ofer School for Children with Autism; Naomi Josman, OTR; and Gideon Weiss, PhD.

Six autistic children, ranging from ages 7 to 12, spent one month learning how to cross virtual streets, to wait for the virtual light at the crosswalk to change and to look left and right for virtual cars using a simulation.

The children in the study showed substantial improvement throughout the learning process: At the beginning of the study, the average child was able to use the second level of the software while by the end, they mastered the ninth level, which is characterized by more vehicles traveling at a higher speed.

However, the research team was not looking to teach a virtual skill; they wanted to see if the children were able to transfer the skills they had mastered in a virtual environment to the real world. A local practice area with a street and crosswalk, complete with traffic signals, was used for this purpose.

The children’s ability to cross the street safely was tested in this area evaluating, for example, whether they stopped to wait on the sidewalk or waited for a green light before crossing. The children were brought to the practice area before and after their virtual learning. Here too, the children exhibited an improvement in their skills, following the training on the virtual street, with three of the children showing considerable improvement.

One of the study participants, a 16-year-old boy, had previously participated in a road safety program in the school, but he was not able to learn how to cross the street safely. After developing the skill in a virtual environment, the boy learned how to stop on the sidewalk before stepping into the street, to look at the color of the traffic light, to cross only when the light was green, and to cross without waiting too long.

“Previous studies have shown that autistic children respond well to computer learning. In this research, we learned that their intelligence level or severity of their autism doesn’t affect their ability to understand the system. And, therefore, this is an important way to improve their cognitive and social abilities,” say Josman and Weiss.


Source: University of Haifa