HERMITAGE, England- An England specialist care facility is employing Virtual Reality (VR) headsets and data mining technologies to aid children with autism to get used to scenarios which they may encounter out of school.
Staff at Prior’s Court in Berkshire, southern England are hoping that the innovative high-tech approach will help students to adapt to the real world and participate in new activities like virtual skiing and deep-sea diving.
FAMILIARITY IN UNFAMILIAR SCENARIOS
Children with autism have difficulty and face stress when placed in unfamiliar situations.
VR will be used to introduce the children to scenarios like visiting a mall or getting on an aircraft without actually leaving their classroom.
Nuno Guerreiro, Prior’s Court School’s computing teacher said that the students face difficulties with sensory issues and hence, find it overwhelming to go to busy place or adjusting to a new place.
They prefer familiar surroundings and like routine. VR allows them to expand into newer realities allowing them to transition when a new place has to be faced.
PRIOR INSIGHT
Big data may also help- Prior Insight, a new data collection system trials give detailed insight into every young person’s day, their diet, exercise and their behaviour.
Things like seizure activity, food and drink input, toiletry, personal care, activities and sleep data can be looked into.
This will hopefully not only increase awareness and knowledge into the lives of these children with autism in Prior’s Court but they also hope to share it with the wider world.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.