**6. Research limitations**

In real daily life, children with autism have to face many obstacles, with regard to social reciprocity, most of which are reflected in the mastery of some non-verbal social behavior. These social actions and reciprocity behaviors are not impossible to achieve in real life, but because of the innate social barriers of autism, they cannot master social skills in a more natural or appropriate way. In such a state, it is difficult to use traditional methods, such as VM or storybooks, to train them. However, AR or VR, as a visual method and teaching strategy, helps them to "see" the situation, to feel, and to have a status in these states. It even helps children with autism to understand the feelings, the states, or social reciprocity of others by multiperson perspective exchange, self-reference imitation, and a variety of situation simulations. These social actions and reciprocal behaviors usually have to be felt and communicated through empathy and inner mechanisms, and are not tangible skills (because the skill of empathy is not like riding a bicycle, as long as you can master it with proficiency, it needs the ability to function effectively in a dynamic environment in which multiple, and substantively different, perspectives must be maintained). Because empathy is an inner state and a social cognition mental skill, A/VR technology provides an attempt to help autistic children to master this ability, but not all feelings can be expressed. Children with autism still need to rely on repeated training, or to learn this skill with the growth of life experience, so this article is only a stepping-stone to help researchers to think of other ways and other methods of thinking about social training issues, to get rid of traditional memorization method, and to become a more flexible training strategy (**Table 4**).


**7. Conclusion**

**Table 4.**

**53**

**Difficult to achieve nonverbal social skills training in the real world**

virtual information

4 Observe the detailed state of different body movements from all angles

5 Watching and practicing social body movements repeatedly

6 Socialize as someone else

7 Instantly see your social interaction status with others **Main technical assistance**

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94587*

**Non-verbal social skills to be strengthened (training**

*How to Use the Advantages of AR and VR Technique to Integrate Special Visual Training…*

**Teaching strategy description**

presented visually. For example, through a combination of the AR and CM strategies, the relationship between each other can be represented

In the real world, there are many details relating to body language. Only in the virtual environment can you repeatedly figure out and observe from

It is impossible to practice social action repeatedly in the real world, but the

In the real world, it is difficult to see things as another person, such as thinking about things in different roles, and autism can only be taught through visual images (thinking from the perspective of others). VR technology

In the real world, only through video recordings and video referencing can you see the state of interaction between yourself and others at the same time, but it can be achieved in real time under the framework of VR.

different perspectives.

virtual mechanism can.

can achieve this function.

by images.

**purpose)**

AR/VR Use visual information aids to enhance social interaction and behavior control (facial expressions,

> social actions) (refer to the **Figure 7**)

VR Grasp the state of empathy

perspectives (refer to the **Table 2**)

VR Grasp the state of empathy

**Table 2**)

*Non-verbal social skills training that is difficult to perform in the real world.*

enhance the mastery of social reciprocal behaviors (social actions, including nodding, shaking hands, hugging, high fives, and shoulder clapping)

through different personal

through different personal perspectives (refer to the

AR/VR Use visual resources to

The situational script design and social story context are often two of the most critical and characteristic training materials in the training process. The situational script involves many important training items, including the setting of social reciprocity behavior, the social context content, non-verbal communication body action, the conversation content, the symbolic metaphor story, the role interaction mechanism, and so on. Through the interpretation and visual deduction of A/VR technology, we can achieve the training framework on a visual level and then promote the transformation of social behavior in learning. This depends on a different scenario script design and social story writing. In the execution, subjects are often obtained from the participants' daily life and applied to script writing. Therefore, A/VR technology has become an interactive platform and game carrier for social training and it also gives these social materials and scripts another visual interpretation. Through the interposition of A/VR technology, autistic children can pay attention to the information details of different non-verbal social cues and


*How to Use the Advantages of AR and VR Technique to Integrate Special Visual Training… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94587*

#### **Table 4.**

mechanism, autistic children can gradually acquire social skills and non-verbal

ment in which multiple, and substantively different, perspectives must be

tion method, and to become a more flexible training strategy (**Table 4**).

**purpose)**

AR Master emotions and facial expressions by observing the face and facial expressions, such as head

> movements (refer to the **Figure 5**)

AR Master the state of social

games.

**Figure 4**)

AR Improve the grasp of social

the **Figure 3**)

relationships with the aid of visual information (refer to

and physical interactions through pretend-play

(non-verbal social communication skills, such as eye contact, social body movements, social ritual behaviors) (refer to the

**Non-verbal social skills to be strengthened (training**

**Teaching strategy description**

It is very important for children with autism to observe the correct expression state that they should make through AR technology, and, especially when they cannot master the correct emoji, AR can solve this problem

In the real world, some inanimate objects cannot truly interact, but with the assistance of AR technology or VR technology, these inanimate objects can become real characters for interaction (for example, an inanimate teddy bear becomes an alive role)

There are many intangible social relationships and statuses in the real world. In the AR interface, the social distance between each other can be

maintained). Because empathy is an inner state and a social cognition mental skill, A/VR technology provides an attempt to help autistic children to master this ability, but not all feelings can be expressed. Children with autism still need to rely on repeated training, or to learn this skill with the growth of life experience, so this article is only a stepping-stone to help researchers to think of other ways and other methods of thinking about social training issues, to get rid of traditional memoriza-

In real daily life, children with autism have to face many obstacles, with regard to social reciprocity, most of which are reflected in the mastery of some non-verbal social behavior. These social actions and reciprocity behaviors are not impossible to achieve in real life, but because of the innate social barriers of autism, they cannot master social skills in a more natural or appropriate way. In such a state, it is difficult to use traditional methods, such as VM or storybooks, to train them. However, AR or VR, as a visual method and teaching strategy, helps them to "see" the situation, to feel, and to have a status in these states. It even helps children with autism to understand the feelings, the states, or social reciprocity of others by multiperson perspective exchange, self-reference imitation, and a variety of situation simulations. These social actions and reciprocal behaviors usually have to be felt and communicated through empathy and inner mechanisms, and are not tangible skills (because the skill of empathy is not like riding a bicycle, as long as you can master it with proficiency, it needs the ability to function effectively in a dynamic environ-

communication and it will equip them to live their own lives.

**6. Research limitations**

*Types of Nonverbal Communication*

**Difficult to achieve nonverbal social skills training in the real world**

1 Self-facial expression reference and limitations

2 Give life to items in the pretendgame

3 See the relationship between each other through

**52**

**Main technical assistance**

*Non-verbal social skills training that is difficult to perform in the real world.*

## **7. Conclusion**

The situational script design and social story context are often two of the most critical and characteristic training materials in the training process. The situational script involves many important training items, including the setting of social reciprocity behavior, the social context content, non-verbal communication body action, the conversation content, the symbolic metaphor story, the role interaction mechanism, and so on. Through the interpretation and visual deduction of A/VR technology, we can achieve the training framework on a visual level and then promote the transformation of social behavior in learning. This depends on a different scenario script design and social story writing. In the execution, subjects are often obtained from the participants' daily life and applied to script writing. Therefore, A/VR technology has become an interactive platform and game carrier for social training and it also gives these social materials and scripts another visual interpretation. Through the interposition of A/VR technology, autistic children can pay attention to the information details of different non-verbal social cues and

transform their communication feelings in the visual images, so that the visual information can be deconstructed and presented sensitively. This kind of training strategy breaks away from the traditional story-book and pure film training mode and expands the understanding level of sense and perception. It has been released in the training of autistic children and has become another new training framework.

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The visual training strategy of A/VR technology has gained its initial achievement in the non-verbal social training of children with autism, and the application of this technology has solved many limitations in traditional teaching. However, in the application and practice of this new technology, researchers must adopt a more rigorous experimental design and take a cautious attitude. Especially for autistic children with mental development defects, the use of this technology must consider more clinical and experimental evidence and it needs to be evaluated by more therapists and physicians. Therefore, we look forward to the breakthrough and development of A/VR technology in the field of special education. At the same time, we are also careful to apply the various visual effects of A/VR technology on social interaction stimulation (e.g., body language, social situations, social reciprocity, and relevant non-verbal communication in social interactions). We hope that it will be used better and applied in the future and that its advantages in working with these special children with autism will be displayed.
