Immersive Room for Visual Attention in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by language delay, impaired social interactions, and repetitive behaviors. Its manifestation varies among individuals due to genetic and environmental factors. Technology-based interventions, such as robots, serious games, virtual reality and immersive room, have shown better results in the cognitive-behavioral treatment of ASD. Visual attention, which is often deficient in individuals with ASD, is a focus in these interventions, as it can aid stimulus processing. Virtual reality offers a more ecological environment for such interventions. In this study, it has been demonstrated the effectiveness of virtual reality training by comparing the performance of an ASD group delivering treatment through the immersive room with a control group delivering traditional treatment. Fifteen children with ASD between the ages of 5 and 10 years, with IQs between 55 and 85 will be included in the trial and, following an assessment related to visual attention processes, will be randomly assigned to the control group and the experimental group. The trial participants will, first, undergo structured sessions to foster or increase the receptive area related to the stimuli to which they will be subjected during the training.