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The use of augmented reality to improve the development of activities of daily living in students with ASD

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Abstract

In today's society, technology plays a fundamental role. More and more activities of daily life are being developed with the help of technology. One of the emerging technologies in recent years is augmented reality, (AR) which generate great benefits por people with disability. These visual technologies provide safe and controlled environments in learning to solve social situations for people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). For this reason, it is proposed as an objective to analyse the effect of AR as a tool for learning the handwashing process. This research was developed using AR leaving from a quantitative approach, quasi-experimental methodology and pretest–posttest design. The Denver questionnaire was employed to collect data before the intervention and after the end of the intervention. In addition to this, the Onirix application was worked to create the AR environments. In this sense, the experimental group was composed of 6 students diagnosed with ASD (Level I, II, III) who developed activities with the AR application. While the control group was composed of 6 students diagnosed with ASD (level I, II, III) who performed similar activities in the handwashing process with traditional methodologies. The sessions had a duration of 20–30 min over 12 weeks to complete 10 sessions. In addition, a field record was used to leave proof of the children’s behaviour throughout the different sessions. In this way, it was possible to study how the child's behaviour had evolved from the pretest to the end of the intervention (post-test). The results show that there have been improvements in the post-test caused by working with augmented reality in several areas, such as, for example, in eye contact. This is reflected for example in item 3 which has a value of p = 0.005 and which is manifested in that the students due to AR turn towards the therapist when they hear his voice. If the study by Bakhtiarvand (2020) is followed, an improvement in the children's motivation for develop social interaction skills has been found. This is reflected in the fact that a value of p = 0.006 was reached after the intervention with the children who used the AR, having a greater interest in interacting socially. Likewise, Ferreira et al. (2020) note that AR has led to progress in the reaction time of students with ASD. For example, they identify a number or letter faster due to AR. In the opposite direction, are the investigations of Lorenzo et al. (2019) where there have been no improvements due to AR. The possibility of designing an application adapted in real time to the children's needs is considered as a future line of research.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude for the collaboration of families, center directors and teaching teams in making the study possible

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  1. Department of Development Psychology and Teaching, University of Alicante, Carretera San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, 03690, San Vicente del Raspeig, Alicante, Spain

    Gonzalo Lorenzo Lledó, Asunción Lledó, Alba Gilabert-Cerdá & Alejandro Lorenzo-Lledó

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  1. Gonzalo Lorenzo Lledó
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  2. Asunción Lledó
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  3. Alba Gilabert-Cerdá
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  4. Alejandro Lorenzo-Lledó
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Correspondence to Gonzalo Lorenzo Lledó.

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Lledó, G.L., Lledó, A., Gilabert-Cerdá, A. et al. The use of augmented reality to improve the development of activities of daily living in students with ASD. Educ Inf Technol 27, 4865–4885 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10805-8

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