About the project
Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may experience unwanted consequences related to deficits in social interaction. Thus, social skills are a key target for interventions for this group. It may result in an increase in possibilities for social interaction and participation in the society, and further dispose their negative feelings regarding loneliness. In addition, it will facilitate for inclusion in “normal” schools and may prevent deficits in terms of academic and occupational achievements.
The intervention will be aimed to enhance the participants’ skills in detecting and assessing other people’s facial expressions. The hypothesis is that training skills in e.g., recognizing facial expressions will lead to the increased fluency in behavioural responding to these social cues. Other social settings such as training on turn-taking will also be possible within the initial project and will be assessed as one of the outcomes.
Theorethical fundation and methods
The intervention is based on theories of learning and developmental psychology where combining behavioural approaches and developmental processes are used in an eclectic framework.
We will mainly use quantitative methods and measure children on various social skills and domains in order to assess their progress using pre and post test designs.
Project period
2019 - 2023.
Project type
This prosject is a research project.
Target
The project pose both short- and long-term contributions and target to contribute to increased knowledge on effective Virtual Reality interventions for children with Autism.
The short term contributions mainly focus on acceptability, feasibility, implementation, and doing the necessary preparations for conducting an intervention study.
The main objective is to conduct and evaluate a social skills intervention using Head Mounted Displayses for children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Also on a longer term we hope to increase:
- knowledge on factors influencing effective interventions
- the feasibility of Virtual Reality as intervention approaches for children with Autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions.
Cooperation
- Professor Roald Øien - The Arctic University of Norway
- Professor Fred Volkmar - Yale University
- Associate Professor Frederick Shic - University of Washington, Department of Pediatrics
- Associate Professor Torunn Lian - Oslo Metropolitan University
Publications
Dechsling, A., Cogo-Moreira, H., Gangestad, J. S., Johannessen, S. N., & Nordahl-Hansen, A. (2023). Evaluating the feasibility of emotion expressions in avatars created from real person photos: A pilot survey. JMIR Formative Research, 7. e44632. https://formative.jmir.org/2023/1/e44632/
Dechsling, A., & Nordahl-Hansen, A. (2023). Virtual Reality and Autism. I Sætra, Henrik Skaug (Red.), Technology and Sustainable Development: The Promise and Pitfalls of Techno-Solutionism (pp.85–95). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003325086-7.
Dechsling, A., Orm, S., Kalandadze, T., Sütterlin, S., Øien, R. A., Shic, F., & Nordahl-Hansen, A. (2021). Virtual and Augmented Reality in Social Skills Interventions for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Dechsling, A., Shic, F., Zhang, D., Marschik, P. B., Esposito, G., Orm, S., Sütterlin, S., Kalandadze, T., Øien, R. A., & Nordahl-Hansen, A. (2021). Virtual reality and naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities 111:103885, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2021.103885.
Dechsling, A., Sütterlin, S., & Nordahl-Hansen, A. (2020). Acceptability and normative considerations in research on Autism Spectrum Disorders and Virtual Reality. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS), 12197, 161–170. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50439-7_11.
Nordahl-Hansen, A., Dechsling, A., Sütterlin, S., Børtveit, L., Zhang, D., Øien, R. A., & Marschik, P. B. (2020). An Overview of Virtual Reality Interventions for two Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Intellectual Disabilities and Autism. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS), 12197, 257–267. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50439-7_17.
Research Dissemination
Dechsling, Anders. Bruk av Virtual Reality for å trene sosiale ferdigheter. Atferdsanalysens bidrag. NAFO-seminar 2021; 2021-10-28 - 2021-10-31
Dechsling, Anders. Research Focus: Autism Spectrum Disorder & Virtual Reality, Anders Dechsling. Thrive Nordics 2020
Dechsling, Anders (2023). Virtual Reality og Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions for barn med autisme. NAFO-seminar 2023
Dechsling, Anders; Orm, Stian; Øien, Roald A; Sütterlin, Stefan; Nordahl-Hansen, Anders.
Virtual Reality and Behavior Analytic Interventions on Social Skills for People with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review. 14th Annual Autism Conference; 2020-02-23 - 2020-02-2
Nordahl-Hansen, Anders ; Dechsling, Anders & Lorenzo Lledo, Gonzalo (2023). Evolution of the intellectual structure of virtual reality and augmented reality interventions for children and adolescents during the period 2010-2022. INSAR2023. Stockholm
Nordahl-Hansen, Anders; Dechsling, Anders; Sütterlin, Stefan; Børtveit, Line; Zhang, Dajie; Øien, Roald A; Marschik, Peter B. Virtual Reality Interventions: Autism and Intellectual Disabilities. International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction; 2020-07-19 - 2020-07-24
Orm, Stian; Dechsling, Anders; Sütterlin, Stefan; Øien, Roald A; Nordahl-Hansen, Anders. Virtual Reality to Enhance Social and Emotional Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. 24th World Congress of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions; 2020-12-02 - 2020-12-04
Dechsling, Anders; Nordahl-Hansen, Anders; Øien, Roald A. Derfor vil Virtual Reality kunne bedre hverdagen til barn og unge med autisme. Forskning.no 2019
Dechsling, Anders; Orm, Stian; Sütterlin, Stefan; Øien, Roald A; Nordahl-Hansen, Anders.
Virtual reality interventions for persons with autism spectrum disorders:: A systematic scoping review. 13th International Technology, Education and Development Conference.; 2019-03-11 - 2019-03-13
Dechsling, Anders; Vister, Oda Marie; Johansen, Trine Elise; Herikstad, Yngve & Nordahl-Hansen, Anders (2022). Implementing Virtual Reality technology for autistic students: Teacher’s perspective on success factors and challenges. INSAR 2022
Media Contributions
Dechsling, Anders. Om forskningsprosjektet: A Virtual Reality Intervention for Children with Autism. NRK [TV] 2019-12-1
Dechsling, Anders. VR kan gi autister en bedre hverdag. NRK1 Østfoldnytt [Radio] 2019-12-11
Jelsness-Jørgensen, Lars-Petter; Dechsling, Anders; Nordahl-Hansen, Anders.
Slik har du aldri sett høyskolerektoren før – nå skal denne VR-teknologien hjelpe barn med autisme. Fredriksstad Blad [Avis] 2020-01-17
Pausepraten: live - VR-teknologi og autisme. Tandberg, Håkon Nassen; & Dechsling, Anders
Høgskolen i Østfold – liten enhet med stor satsing innen forskning på digitalisering
Invited lectures
Dechsling & Nordahl-Hansen: VR & Autism. University of Agder (February 2020).
Dechsling: VR & Autism. Kalnes high school (March 2020).
Dechsling: VR & Autism. University Hospital of North Norway (June 2020).
Dechsling: VR & Autism. Master’s in Special Education, Østfold University College (September 2020).
Dechsling: VR & Autism. Research group Special Education Research, Østfold University College (February 2021).
Dechsling: VR & Autism. Department of Organisation and Service Innovation, Østfold University College (March 2021).
Dechsling: VR & Autism. Working group DigiHealth, Østfold University College (April 2021).
Dechsling: VR & Autism. Official opening of the "future classroom" learning lab, Østfold University College (November 2021).