Design and development of VR learning environments for children with ASD

ABSTRACT

Basic social interaction and executing certain tasks can be difficult for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The symptoms of such behaviour include inappropriate gestures, body language and facial expressions, lack of interest in certain tasks, cognitive disability in coordination of limbs, and a difficulty in comprehending tasks’ requirements. This paper will discuss our efforts to develop virtual learning environments for children with ASD to improve their gestures and their interests in comprehending tasks’ requirements. Virtual environments are ideal for imparting skills necessary for independence before encouraging children with ASD to try these out in the real world and gain real-life experience. A high-end solution and a simplified solution will be presented together with a discussion on their comparison study.

KEYWORDS:

• VR
• virtual learning environments
• special needs education
• autism spectrum disorder
• interactive gaming

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof Nadia Thalmann, Prof Jianmin Zheng, Prof Daniel Thalmann and other colleagues help this project one way or another.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Yiyu Cai is the principal investigator on several education projects developing VR technology for learning applications. He has about 20 years’ experience doing research and development on VR technology for biomedical, engineering, education and other applications. He has published over 150 technical articles, edited 6 books, and invented 7 patents.

Ms Ruby Chiew is principal of AWWA School in Singapore. She is a collaborator with the virtual pink dolphins project funded by Singapore Millennium Foundation.

Mr Zin Tun Nay is a project officer with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interest is in virtual reality, and digital and interactive media.

Dr Chandrasekaran Indhumathi is a research fellow with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research interest includes VR and VR application in education, biomedical and engineering.

Mr Lihui Huang is a research associate with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He received a Bachelor and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Qing Hua University, China. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate under the supervision of Professor Yiyu Cai.

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by the BeingTogether Centre, a collaboration between Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore and University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. The BeingTogether Centre is supported by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore under its International Research Centres in Singapore Funding Initiative. From Aug 2013 to Aug 2016, the project of the research is supported by the Temasek Trust Funded Singapore Millennium Foundation.