There is a continuous debate on the validity of learning styles in literature. Several models have been proposed for the learning styles, corresponding to the psychometric assessment instrument. Among these models, Felder-Silverman model is widely used by educators to identify the learning styles of the engineering students. The instrument that measures the learning styles is the index of learning style (ILS). This study focuses to identify the validity and reliability of the ILS instrument for middle school students (N=260). This includes internal consistency reliability and construct validity report of the ILS. As a result of the study, the reliability of the instrument was established, however, it was found that there were cross loadings in the 14-factor solution and the 4-factor solution. Thus, the instrument validity for secondary grade students was not established.

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Autism a neurological disorder which is often diagnosed during early childhood and can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges over a lifetime. It is increasing day by day and people are inclining from clinical and psychological therapies to assistive technologies. We have developed an interactive virtual environment VECA that aims to enhance the cognitive skills and creativity in children with autism by playing games and interacting with the environment. The setup also incorporates the feedback of the child that whether he/she is comfortable with the environment or not. This solution is cost effective, with no side effects unlike traditional therapies, and can provide valuable insight to the behavior analysis of the autism patients.  Index Terms-artificial intelligence, autism, human tracking, interactive learning, virtual environment I. INTRODUCTION A neuro-developmental syndrome known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is usually diagnosed in early childhood. It affects the brain development which results in impaired social relationships, monotonous behaviors, limited range of interests and impaired language and communication. Approximately 50-60% of the children with autism are intellectually disabled [1]. Standardized intelligence testing and clinical assessment confirmed that Intellectual Disability arises during the brain developmental period. An adaptive functioning deficits which result in failure to comply with social, cultural and developmental standards for individual independence and communal responsibility. Without continual support, adaptive deficit limits functionality of the daily life activities, such as social involvement, individualistic living and communication [2]. Studies in Europe, North America and Asia, have indicated autistic individuals with an average prevalence of around 1%. South Korean study identified a prevalence of about 2.6% [3]. The situation is alarming due to the reports from last decade shows an immense increase in the occurrence of autism from approximate 4/10000 to 6/1000 children [4].

In differentiated learning, the teacher needs to be aware of the learning styles of students in the classroom to accommodate specific learning preferences, e.g., the Felder–Silverman learning style model. The corresponding instrument, i.e., the Felder–Silverman Index of Learning Style (ILS), was designed to assess learning styles, specifically for engineering students. The ILS has been tested at the middle school level to identify the learning styles; however, validity/reliability had not been established in earlier studies with large samples. The focus of this study was to identify the validity and reliability of an ILS instrument for middle school students (N=450) by investigating the factor structure through factor analysis. This includes internal consistency reliability and constructing validity report of the ILS. An exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was undertaken to investigate the factor structure to establish validity. As a result of the study, the reliability of the instrument was established. Five-factors emerged through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), which were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The outcome provided five-factors (i.e., Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker–Lewis Index (TLI), Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), Standardized Root Mean Residual (SRMR), and Goodness of Fit (GFI)), out of which four factors were related to the four dimensions of the Felder–Silverman model, and the fifth factor was related to the association of sensing/intuitive and sequential/global dimensions of the model, which is in agreement with the theoretical construct of ILS. As a result of CFA, ILS entailing 24 items indicates a good fit with five-factor structure. CFI=0.922;TLI=0.927; RMSEA=0.026; SRMR=0.585;GFI=0.911;X2=277;df=42;p=0.60. This study suggests that the ILS for the secondary-grade students needs to be revised with fewer items to improve the reliability, as supported by empirical evidence through the EFA and CFA.