Dissertation Defenses

Doctoral Dissertation Announcement

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Candidate: Tina R. Goldsmith

Degree of: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Psychology

Title: Using Virtual Reality Enhanced Behavioral Skills Training to Teach Street-Crossing Skills to Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Committee:
Dr. Linda LeBlanc, Chair
Dr. Galen Alessi
Dr. Wayne Fuqua
Dr. Amy Matthews

Date: Friday, June 27, 2008 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
1509 Wood Hall

Abstract:
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) often have poor safety skills due to their insensitivity to subtle environmental cues and poor problem solving in the face of stressful tasks. These skill deficits threaten their physical well-being and limit their personal independence. An effective intervention model for teaching safety skills is behavioral skills training (BST). The effects of this 4-part intervention, which includes Instructions, Modeling, Rehearsal, and Feedback, improve with the addition of in situ training. However, creating realistic, safe, and logistically feasible contexts for rehearsal of skills may prove difficult, if not impossible. Virtual reality (VR) may present a solution. Recent studies illustrate that children with ASDs can interact meaningfully within VR, which affords incomparable control for arrangement of environments that best promote learning and generalization. This study sought to evaluate the effects of a partially immersive VR enhanced BST intervention to teach 5 children with ASDs (ages 9-13) safe street-crossing skills. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used to control for historical and maturational confounds while replicating treatment effects across participants in the virtual environment, and a within subject repeated measures design was used to determine the effects of training on skills in the natural environment. Data indicate mastery of the skill set within the virtual environment for all participants. Additionally, performance improved from pre-test to post-test in the natural environment, with some participants demonstrating treatment gains following instructions and modeling.