The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether a virtual reality (VR)-based social skills intervention works as well as an in-person group intervention for improving social skills in preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual disability. It will also examine how these two approaches may differ in their effects across different settings.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
Do children who receive the VR-based intervention show improvements in social skills over time? Are there differences in outcomes between children receiving the VR-based intervention and those receiving the in-person group intervention?
Researchers will compare a VR-based social skills intervention to an in-person group-based intervention with equivalent content to see if the mode of delivery affects treatment outcomes.
Participants will:
Be randomly assigned to either a VR-based intervention group or an in-person group intervention Participate in 8 weekly sessions, each lasting approximately 50 minutes Engage in structured, play-based social skills activities designed using naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention (NDBIs) principles Complete caregiver- and teacher-reported questionnaires before and after the intervention