A World of Their Own: Empowering Autistic Children through Virtual Environments
This entry is part of a research project for Cultural Interfaces and Cross-Cultural Rhetoric at Stanford University. For more about this assignment and the class projects, click here.
By Ryan Woessner
Autism is one of the fastest growing developmental disabilities in the United States, with over 1.5 million Americans currently diagnosed with the neurological disorder that scientists still know very little about. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, three distinctive behaviors characterize autism: lack of social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors or narrow, obsessive interests (Willingham). However, children with autism display these symptoms in many different ways, some as mild as avoiding eye contact, while others are totally immersed in a world of their own. For my research project, I will explore the reasons why virtual environments such as Second Life and other computer-generated communities are being promoted by psychologists and neurological doctors as beneficial for teaching social skills to people with autistic disorders, notably this past year’s exciting breakthroughs with autistic children, as well as connecting these individuals to the network community.
Virtual environments, or VEs, offer individuals (represented by 3-D images called avatars) the opportunity to navigate through realistic scenarios in real time without actually being involved in any face-to-face interaction. Researchers Sarah Parsons, Peter Mitchell and Anne Leonard note that social skills in VEs can be practiced in a “safe and supportive environment, and any difficulties experienced, or mistakes made, can be discussed and rectified without the potentially stressful components of real-world interaction and feedback” (2-3). Although Second Life has recently become a popular medium for autistic adults, researchers at Northwestern University are discovering that autistic children may benefit the most from the “safety net” of virtual environments.
Virtual Peers, “animated life-sized children that simulate the behaviors and conversation of developing children,” are currently being used by Professor Justine Cassell and staff at Northwestern University in order to assist autistic children in developing the social skills necessary to survive in the real-world. Through the Virtual Peers program, six children with high-functioning autism aged 7 to 11 began producing more "contingent" sentences when they spoke with the virtual peer, while their sentences did not improve as dramatically when they were paired with the real-life children. Similarly, recent research at the University of Haifa shows that autistic children improved their road-safety skills, such as when to cross a street and how to use a crosswalk, through participation in virtual environments (Science Daily, 01.08). Six autistic children, ages 7-12, spent one month learning how to cross virtual streets, to wait for the virtual light at the crosswalk to change and to look in both directions for virtual cars. Before and after practicing in the VE, the children were brought to a real-world practice area, where three of the six children displayed “considerable improvement” in their road-safety skills, a small step in determining real-world outcomes through virtual situations.
Whereas many autistic adults are just beginning to learn the life-changing potential of virtual environments, autistic children have the unique opportunity of acquiring the social skills necessary for real-life encounters through VEs before they enter adolescence. As explained by Psychologist Miri Arie, “We hope virtual peers like Sam [a virtual peer] will allow children with autism to practice the rules behind joining a game, holding a conversation and maintaining social interaction. Then they can apply their newly acquired skills to real-life situations” (Science Daily, 03.08). This breakthrough in the use of VEs as a place of social development for autistic children is only a small, though exhilarating, step in realizing the immense promise VEs have in creating real-world opportunities for individuals affected by autism.
Comments
This is quite an interesting topic. What intrigues me is the fact that autistic children approach a virtual, "practice" interaction more openly or easily than a real one, even though the same general skills are involved. The only difference is the presence of an actual person. I wonder if the level of realism in the VE affects the success of the autistic person's social development since SecondLife avatars are still rather cartoony and not as realistic as, say, the animation in Final Fantasy or 300. It'd be interesting to see if web-cam interactions or specially-designed VEs using live actors as avatars (if that is even feasible) are equally effective in helping autistic children. If so, then this psychological need for physical separation in social interactions, already manifested in anti-social behavior, might help scientists learn more about the mechanisms of the disease.
Posted by: Jennifer Wang | April 22, 2008 10:15 PM
Good points, Jennifer. What intrigues me about this topic is the irony of the fact that (I believe) SL users typically have to be over 18 to participate in the society. I know that my daughter has been pestering me to let her create an avatar in SL for a while, but I have held her off because of the NR (no rating) content of the site. While there are definite codes of conduct, I surely don't want a 10 year old running around unsupervised, especially since her avatar would look so adult!
Given this, I find it fascinating that SL has become a haven in particular for these autistic kids with anxieties that specifically center around social interaction. It speaks the ways that the virtual world can be so adaptable to special needs; I had heard of companies like Wells Fargo and others using SL as a training ground, but it is heartening to hear of less financially motivated forays into experimenting with the possibilities of SL.
Posted by: Christine Alfano, Stanford Instructor | April 23, 2008 10:58 AM
Let me try and contain my enthusiasm about your new topic Ryan.
While I am still reluctant about increasing society's use and dependence on technology, I believe that the use of SL for studying and benefiting autism patients is a worthwhile cause. I suppose I am bitter about walking into restaurants and witnessing what I like to call "digital parenting" when parents let their children use gameboys, playstations, and cell phones at the table. I personally believe the dependence on digital entertainment has led our society to be more distanced from one another. Essentially, people do not know how to have successful social interactions anymore since most discourse occurs over technological media that is removed from the somatic experience. Furthermore, there are so many misunderstandings that occur because of technology when the emotive qualities of a statement can't be understood through facial expressions. (Could you tell I was enthused earlier?) Thus, you could say I have a personal grudge against our culture's hyperbolic use of technological connection on an everyday basis.
That said, several psychology classes that I've taken recently have convinced me of the benevolent effects of simulated interactions online. There have been studies (I can send you the articles I still have) that have used Paul Ekman's Microexpression Training Tool (METT) with autistic and schizophrenic patients to train them to understand facial expressions with the intention of increasing their sociability. As you mentioned, they found that avoidance of eye contact can be improved once this aversion to faces is treated. Furthermore, there is a new tool that Alexa Wright, Eugenie Shinkle, and Alf Linney (2005) have established called "Alter Ego" which is a CGI and art collaboration that created a type of 3D modeling image that mirrors a person's facial expressions. As Jennifer noted, this occurs in real time and allows autistic people and those without deficits to interact with faces in a non-threatening way.
Also, an established professor at Stanford (he created the Bobo Doll experiment years ago) Albert Bandura has done extensive studies on increasing individual self-efficacy as the source of better communal interactions. He has done studies that have shown the high efficacy of using virtual reality simulations to help people with phobias (height phobias mostly) to overcome their latent fears.
Also, you might want to consider how translatable the online interactions are to real life interactions which is essentially the goal.
Therefore, I hope you'll find some of these ideas/topics to be helpful. I am very interested to hear about what you discover. Maybe you'll be able to convince me that technology is not completely ruining our ability to express ourselves when we meet face-to-face.
Posted by: Natalia Duong | April 23, 2008 06:13 PM
This is incredible! Second life, a virtual fantasy, is being used to draw autistic children, who are for the most part trapped in their own world, out into the real world. That probably would not have been my first approach to solving the issue. It is amazing to think that creating an additional delusion of reality is helping autistic children adapt to the social situations they encounter. I am skeptical of VE’s being “safe and supportive,” especially after Christine pointed out that there is an age requirement for creating an avatar. This seems to suggest that the content of VE’s may not be suitable for a child and could have detrimental consequences. This is definitely a great topic though. I’m excited to see your presentation.
Posted by: Dimitri Alves | April 24, 2008 01:07 AM