The Impact of Virtual Reality on the Social Skills of Children with ASD in the School Environment

A Systematic Mapping

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51359/2317-0115.2025.269137

Keywords:

Virtual Reality, ASD, Inclusive Education, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Social Skills

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) aids the social development of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This systematic mapping investigates VR's impact in school settings. Following PRISMA guidelines, 14 studies (2014-2024) from Scopus, IEEE, WoS, ScienceDirect, ACM, and Compendex were analyzed. Results show effectiveness in emotional recognition and communication. Challenges include high costs, sensory adaptation, and lack of teacher training. VR provides clear benefits, but overcoming financial and pedagogical barriers is essential to maximize its potential in inclusive education.

Author Biographies

Irandi de Jesus Silva, Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Irandi Silva é graduando em Engenharia de Computação na Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS), presidente e fundador da Innovation Hub – Liga Acadêmica de Empreendedorismo. Atua como representante estudantil da Sociedade Brasileira de Computação (SBC) na UFS, tutor do Projeto MaisTI, capacitando estudantes no desenvolvimento de software, e bolsista do PET Saúde/I&SD, promovendo a integração entre tecnologia, inovação e o SUS. Possui experiência em gestão de equipes e de produtos digitais, com habilidades em modelagem de negócios e desenvolvimento de estratégias para startups de base tecnológica, buscando unir tecnologia, criatividade e impacto real na geração de soluções para o mercado.Irandi Silva é graduando em Engenharia de Computação na Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS), presidente e fundador da Innovation Hub – Liga Acadêmica de Empreendedorismo. Atua como representante estudantil da Sociedade Brasileira de Computação (SBC) na UFS, tutor do Projeto MaisTI, capacitando estudantes no desenvolvimento de software, e bolsista do PET Saúde/I&SD, promovendo a integração entre tecnologia, inovação e o SUS. Possui experiência em gestão de equipes e de produtos digitais, com habilidades em modelagem de negócios e desenvolvimento de estratégias para startups de base tecnológica, buscando unir tecnologia, criatividade e impacto real na geração de soluções para o mercado.
Atividades

Verônica dos Santos Nascimento, Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Mestranda em Computação no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Computação da Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Gabriella Nascimento dos Santos da Silva, Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Graduanda em Engenharia da Computação no Departamento de Computação da Universidade Federal de Sergipe

José Victor Ribeiro de Jesus, Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Graduando em Engenharia da Computação no Departamento de Computação da Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Gilton José Ferreira da Silva, Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Professor Associado ao Departamento de Computação da Universidade Federal de Sergipe e Doutor em Ciência da  Propriedade Intelectual.

References

ADJORLU, A.; SERAFIN, S. Teachers' views on how to use virtual reality to instruct children and adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. In: 2019 IEEE CONFERENCE ON VIRTUAL REALITY AND 3D USER INTERFACES (VR). [S.l.]: IEEE, 2019. p. 1439-1442. https://doi.org/10.1109/VR.2019.8798032.

AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5. ed. Arlington: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., 2013. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.

BARON-COHEN, S.; TAGER-FLUSBERG, H.; COHEN, D. J. (Eds.). Understanding other minds: perspectives from developmental cognitive neuroscience. 2. ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

CHENG, Y.; HUANG, C. L.; YANG, C. S. Using a 3D immersive virtual environment system to enhance social understanding and social skills for children with autism spectrum disorders. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, [S.l.], v. 30, n. 4, p. 222–236, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088357615583473.

DIDEHBANI, N.; ALLEN, T.; KANDALAFT, M.; KRAWCZYK, D.; CHAPMAN, S. Virtual reality social cognition training for children with high functioning autism. Computers in Human Behavior, v. 62, p. 703–711, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.033.

HALIM, E. et al. Virtual reality as a social learning tool for individuals with autism. In: 5TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON RESEARCH OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS (ISRITI). [S.l.]: IEEE, 2022. p. 805–810. https://doi.org/10.1109/ISRITI56927.2022.10053065.

HERRERO, J. F.; LORENZO, G. An immersive virtual reality educational intervention on people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) for the development of communication skills and problem solving. Education and Information Technologies, [S.l.], v. 25, n. 3, p. 1689–1722, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-019-10050-0.

IP, H. H. S.; WONG, S. W. L.; CHAN, D. F. Y.; BYRNE, J.; LI, C.; YUAN, V. S. N.; LAU, K. S. Y.; WONG, J. Y. W. Enhance emotional and social adaptation skills for children with autism spectrum disorder: a virtual reality enabled approach. Computers & Education, v. 117, p. 1–15, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.09.010.

JUNAIDI, A. R. et al. Development of virtual reality content to improve social skills in children with low function autism. In: 6TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY (ICET). [S.l.]: IEEE, 2020. p. 115–119. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICET51153.2020.9276607.

LORENZO, G. et al. Design and application of an immersive virtual reality system to enhance emotional skills for children with autism spectrum disorders. Computers & Education, [S.l.], v. 98, p. 192–205, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.03.018.

LORENZO, G. G.; NEWBUTT, N. N.; LORENZO-LLEDÓ, A. A. Designing virtual reality tools for students with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review. Education and Information Technologies, [S.l.], v. 28, n. 8, p. 9557–9605, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11545-z.

MANJU, T. et al. Increasing the social interaction of autism child using virtual reality intervention (VRI). ACM Transactions on Asian and Low-Resource Language Information Processing, [S.l.], v. 22, n. 5, art. 94, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592855.

MATSON, J. L.; SHOEMAKER, M. Intellectual disability and its relationship to autism spectrum disorders. Research in Developmental Disabilities, [S.l.], v. 30, n. 6, p. 1107–1114, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2009.06.003.

NARANJO, C. A. et al. Teaching process for children with autism in virtual reality environments. In: PROCEEDINGS OF THE 9TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY AND COMPUTERS (ICETC ’17). New York: Association for Computing Machinery, 2017. p. 41–45. https://doi.org/10.1145/3175536.3175582.

SAIT, M. et al. Employing virtual reality techniques in environment adaptation for autistic children. Procedia Computer Science, [S.l.], v. 163, p. 338–344, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2019.12.116.

SÁNCHEZ, P.; NORDAHL-HANSEN, A.; KAALE, A. The role of context in language development for children with autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in Psychology, [S.l.], v. 11, art. 1918, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.563925.

ZHAO, J. Q. et al. Effect of cognitive training based on virtual reality on the children with autism spectrum disorder. Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, [S.l.], v. 2, art. 100013, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2021.100013.

Downloads

Published

2026-02-19

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2025): Ediç˜ão - 2o Semestre de 2025

Section

Artigos

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Irandi Silva, Verônica Nascimento, Gabriella Nascimento dos Santos da Silva, José Victor Ribeiro de Jesus, Gilton José

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Os trabalhos submetidos são de responsabilidade exclusiva de sua autoria, que preserva o seu direito autoral.

É permitida a citação dos trabalhos publicados sem prévia autorização desde que seja explícita a menção à fonte da RMP