Acceptability and Normative Considerations in Research on Autism Spectrum Disorders and Virtual Reality

The number of publications on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Virtual Reality (VR) has increased considerably the past few years. Interventions using VR show promising effect in improving social skills and other daily living activities for persons with ASD. Researchers have expressed concerns regarding the acceptability among people with ASD towards using Head-Mounted Displays (HMD) due to sensory oversensitivity. In this study we provide data from 155 publications on the reported acceptability by participants with ASD. Over 80% of the studies reported using VR as positive. The negative sentiment towards using VR across studies was below 1%. These findings indicate that VR and other computer-based tools are broadly accepted amongst participants with ASD. We suggest normative considerations that researchers and clinicians should take into account when planning and conducting research and clinical interventions. Focusing on the social validity, user involvement, and individual considerations.