Developmental Neuromotor and Cognition Lab, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2022 Jan 7;19(1):1. doi: 10.1186/s12984-021-00978-1.
Motor impairment is widely acknowledged as a core feature in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which can affect adaptive behavior and increase severity of symptoms. Low-cost motion capture and virtual reality (VR) game technologies hold a great deal of promise for providing personalized approaches to motor intervention in ASD. The present study explored the feasibility, acceptability and potential efficacy of a custom-designed VR game-based intervention (GaitWayXR™) for improving gross motor skills in youth with ASD.
Ten children and adolescents (10-17 years) completed six, 20-min VR-based motor training sessions over 2 weeks while whole-body movement was tracked with a low-cost motion capture system. We developed a methodology for using motion tracking data to quantify whole-body movement in terms of efficiency, synchrony and symmetry. We then studied the relationships of the above quantities with standardized measures of motor skill and cognitive flexibility.
Our results supported our presumption that the VR intervention is safe, with no adverse events and very few minor to moderate side-effects, while a large proportion of parents said they would use the VR game at home, the most prohibitive reasons for adopting the system for home therapy were cost and space. Although there was little evidence of any benefits of the GaitWayXR™ intervention in improving gross motor skills, we showed several positive correlations between the standardized measures of gross motor skills in ASD and our measures of efficiency, symmetry and synchrony from low-cost motion capture.
These findings, though preliminary and limited by small sample size, suggest that low-cost motion capture of children with ASD is feasible with movement exercises in a VR-based game environment. Based on these preliminary findings, we recommend conducting larger-scale studies with methods for improving adherence to VR gaming interventions over longer periods.
运动障碍被广泛认为是自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童的核心特征，它会影响适应行为，并增加症状的严重程度。低成本运动捕捉和虚拟现实（VR）游戏技术为 ASD 患者提供个性化运动干预方法提供了很大的希望。本研究探讨了一种定制设计的基于 VR 游戏的干预（GaitWayXR™），该干预通过改善 ASD 青少年的粗大运动技能的可行性、可接受性和潜在疗效。
10 名儿童和青少年（10-17 岁）在 2 周内完成了 6 次 20 分钟的基于 VR 的运动训练，同时使用低成本运动捕捉系统跟踪全身运动。我们开发了一种使用运动跟踪数据来量化整体运动效率、同步性和对称性的方法。然后，我们研究了这些数量与运动技能和认知灵活性的标准化测量之间的关系。
我们的结果支持了我们的假设，即 VR 干预是安全的，没有不良事件，只有少数轻微到中度的副作用，而大多数父母表示他们会在家里使用 VR 游戏，采用该系统进行家庭治疗的最主要的限制因素是成本和空间。尽管 GaitWayXR™干预在改善粗大运动技能方面几乎没有任何益处的证据，但我们发现 ASD 儿童的粗大运动技能的标准化测量与我们从低成本运动捕捉中获得的效率、对称性和同步性之间存在一些正相关关系。
尽管这些发现初步且受到样本量小的限制，但它们表明，使用基于 VR 的游戏环境中的运动练习对 ASD 儿童进行低成本运动捕捉是可行的。基于这些初步发现，我们建议进行更大规模的研究，采用方法提高对 VR 游戏干预的依从性，延长干预时间。
