Autism and virtual worlds

A few months into my PhD, the member of the Stella Maris foundation approached us wondering if we could use some of our technologies to help them with a few special cases they had. They wanted to help young adults with high-functioning autism to learn how to categorize objects. Their patients were able to communciate and talk, but they could not associate items based on their function. To help them practice, we built a VR environment where these kids could practice different types of associations, having an operator monitor their experiences. The game was also able to record and update kids’ progresses in real time, giving the doctors a metric of how they were performing over time.

Unfortunately due to Covid, tests have been suspended.

Pics are coming soon!