THE VIRTUAL REALITY EFFECT ON ATYPICAL MOTOR DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD - A SCOPING REVIEW

Abstract

This study aims to map the state of the art, explore the scope and nature of scientific production on the virtual reality effect on atypical motor development in early childhood. A scoping review was conducted with studies published between 2014 and 2024, in Portuguese, English and Spanish, with free access. The searches were carried out in the following databases: National Library of Medicine (PubMed), Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Cochrane and Portal de Periódicos CAPES, using search strategies with the following descriptors indexed in DeCS and MeSH: “child”, “virtual reality”, “child development” and “motor skills disorders”. Six of the 280 articles initially identified, were eligible, whose findings indicate that virtual reality is a promising resource for intervention in children, within the scope of rehabilitation, it has guaranteed effectiveness, both in motor treatments and in restoring and improving cognitive functions in several disorders, with benefits of use on gross motor function and improvements in motor learning. Furthermore, it proves to be an approach that can make treatment more flexible and individualize, considering the needs of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. However, there is still a lack of published studies on the subject, thus justifying the need for more research with high methodological rigor.