Virtual / Augmented Reality for Joint Attention Skills Improvement in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

Deficit in joint attention (JA) is among the earliest signs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and it is targeted in early intervention programs. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are emerging technologies that have widely drawn the interest of scientists to conduct research in the ASD field in recent years. Despite the critical role of JA skills in the development of social-communication skills, they have been targeted by VR/AR-based interventions for autistic individuals in only a few studies. On this ground, this systematic literature review aims to present the state of the art in the clinical applications of interventions based on VR/AR for improving the JA skills of individuals with ASD. Seven peer-reviewed articles were analyzed to clarify the experimental effect of VR/AR applications on JA skills and consequently on social-communications skills. According to the analysis, positive results have been reported in all studies except one. Moreover, it was revealed that there was no consensus on JA measures employed in the studies. Therefore, it was difficult to compare results and draw a definite conclusion about the clinical benefits of VR/AR. Due to the importance of JA, it is highly recommended to conduct further clinical trials on the use of VR/AR-based intervention to enrich the literature on the subject.