  Poor social skills in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are associated with
reduced independence in daily life. Current interventions for improving the
social skills of individuals with ASD fail to represent the complexity of
real-life social settings and situations. Virtual reality (VR) may facilitate
social skills training in social environments and situations proximal to real
life, however, more research is needed for elucidating aspects such as the
acceptability, usability, and user experience of VR systems in ASD. Twenty-five
participants with ASD attended a neuropsychological evaluation and three
sessions of VR social skills training, incorporating five (5) social scenarios
with three difficulty levels for each. Participants reported high
acceptability, system usability, and user experience. Significant correlations
were observed between performance in social scenarios, self-reports, and
executive functions. Working memory and planning ability were significant
predictors of functionality level in ASD and the VR system's perceived
usability respectively. Yet, performance in social scenarios was the best
predictor of usability, acceptability, and functionality level in ASD. Planning
ability substantially predicted performance in social scenarios, postulating an
implication in social skills. Immersive VR social skills training appears
effective in individuals with ASD, yet an error-less approach, which is
adaptive to the individual's needs, should be preferred.
