Teaching safety skills to children with autism spectrum disorders: a comparison of strategies

Abstract

This study investigated the question, if children diagnosed with ASD who learned safety skills through traditional teaching methods transferred them to real world situations more effectively and efficiently than children who learned safety skills through VR strategies. Eight children diagnosed with ASD were selected for this study. Participants were randomly assigned to form two groups of four children each. Two training phases were used for each condition ("Teaching As Usual" and VR). Training sessions were conducted twice a week for a maximum time limit of 30 minutes per session. Training phases lasted for five weeks and included instruction on fire safety (Phase I) and tornado safety (Phase II). A generalization and maintenance phase followed the training phases to assess learned skills. Results indicated that training via VR was a more efficient means; however, when effectiveness was measured both groups appeared to yield similar results.