User-Centered Development and Pilot Test of a Virtual Reality Training Prototype for Parents of Children with Autism

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently engage in severe destructive behavior that presents significant risks to themselves and others, poses substantial barriers to community integration, and results in high familial and societal financial impact. Despite the efficacy of behavior analytic (BA) interventions for decreasing destructive behavior, to produce meaningful outcomes in the natural environment, treatment effects must transfer to parents. Parents often experience in-person training barriers, such as time, financial burden, transportation, and childcare, as well as concerns with the quality of training delivered, such as unrealistic and uncomfortable training with therapists. This paper presents preliminary results from a pilot test of a prototype of a virtual reality parent training tool intended to reduce access and quality barriers for parents with children with ASD who engage in severe destructive behavior.