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Improving Social Interaction and Life Skills
For children and adolescents with Autism, social interactions can be awkward or difficult to navigate. Whether it’s a conversation with a family member or peers, or navigating a convenience store then paying the cashier, direct instruction and practice of social skills may be required to support success. VRHt can help facilitate these types of social interactions. Practicing these interactions as often as possible is key to long-term development and improvement, but it can be difficult to repeat or practice in-person as much as is needed to feel confident. VRHt allows a patient in conjuntion with a therapist to create a controlled, custom environment that allows for a safe and comfortable therapy session where these skills (and others) can be improved.
Benefits:
- Can increase social interaction
- Can increase positive emotions and focused attention
- Help in teaching facial expression and emotions
- Aide in teaching new tasks
VR in Action:
Virtual Reality’s Benefits For Autism
Michigan State University researchers are teaming with colleagues in Ireland to explore how wearable technologies like Oculus Rift can be used by individuals with autism to navigate virtual social situations that help them develop life skills that can lead to secure employment and independent living.
(Courtesy of Michigan State University)
Using VR to Help Kids with Autism
When their child with autism fell in love with a virtual reality headset, this family developed a program to help train his brain. Today, their software is being tested in classrooms – with amazing results.
(Courtesy of FreeThink)