Herrera Gerardo, Alcantud Francisco, Jordan Rita, Blanquer Amparo, Labajo Gabriel, De Pablo Cristina
Universitat de Valencia Estudi General, Spain.
Autism. 2008 Mar;12(2):143-57. doi: 10.1177/1362361307086657.
Difficulties in understanding symbolism have been documented as characteristic of autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs). In general, virtual reality (VR) environments offer a set of potential advantages for educational intervention in ASD. In particular, VR offers the advantage, for teaching pretend play and for understanding imagination, of it being possible to show these imaginary transformations explicitly. This article reports two case studies of children with autism (aged 8:6 and 15:7, both male), examining the effectiveness of using a VR tool specifically designed to work on teaching understanding of pretend play. The results, confirmed by independent observers, showed a significant advance in pretend play abilities after the intervention period in both participants, and a high degree of generalization of the acquired teaching in one of them.
理解象征意义方面的困难已被记录为自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的特征。一般来说，虚拟现实（VR）环境为ASD的教育干预提供了一系列潜在优势。特别是，VR在教授假装游戏和理解想象力方面具有优势，因为它可以明确展示这些想象中的转变。本文报告了两名自闭症儿童（年龄分别为8岁6个月和15岁7个月，均为男性）的案例研究，考察了使用专门设计用于教授假装游戏理解的VR工具的有效性。独立观察者证实的结果显示，两名参与者在干预期后假装游戏能力都有显著提高，其中一人所习得的教导具有高度的泛化性。
