**4. Some specific situations in VR presents**

Similar concepts can also be presented in the creation of science and technology art. For example, the work is called the inter dis-communication machine created by the Hachiya [73]. The Dis-Communication Machine is a communication system that is aimed at transmitting and receiving sensual experiences used by two people wearing head-mounted displays. The 'machine' projects one wearer's sight and sound perception of the environment into the other one's display, thus confusing the borders between the identities of 'you' and 'me'. Through the exchange with the world, from the perspective of the different role objects, the participants can understand and feel the sensory world visually [73]. In the past, this visual sensory effect was achieved through the exchange and transmission link of entity lens images. Today, VR technology can achieve this surreal sensory experience. The case subjects can view others (first person) from their own perspective and interact with virtual characters, or view themselves from the perspective of others, or even watch their interaction with others (third person) from the perspective of another person (**Table 3**). These switching perspectives successfully achieve the visual thinking mode of transpositional thinking in the virtual world. For autistic children, the empathy training strategy can promote the physical sensory experience synchronously. Whether immersed in a specific virtual environment, or watching themselves interact with virtual characters, from God's perspective, they have achieved different visual sensory experiences, thus forming another training application of self-reference. This training framework has also been preliminarily verified by

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

experiments, which proves that autistic children can still achieve the common perception of psychological and physiological perceptions, with the help of technology. Autistic children can effectively perceive and express empathy, which encourages them to use the mechanism of social reciprocity, and enhances their social skills [43].


#### **Table 3.**

experience, but with the performance of empathy, and it helps users to think from the perspective of others and to master the skills and abilities of empathy. In addition, the empathy experience provided by VR is felt from the first-person perspective and is achieved through the mechanism of exchanging perspectives

*Differences in the implementation of empathetic and transpositional thinking skills between AR and VR.*

From the third-person perspective, a person must try to figure out the feelings of the posing object and watch the superimposed animation to understand the interactive

Visually, it can be transformed into a state of empathy in a fake game, by comparing the relationship between the virtual and the real state. For example, through the teddy bear doll in the hand and the realistic animation of AR, the doll becomes a real bear and one must to try to figure out his feelings.(**Figure 4**.)

Self-imitation, self-modeling, pretend-play game, symbolic

game operation,

content.

**AR technology VR technology (include CAVE VR)**

to master skills.

others.

Visually, it can switch to the perspective of different characters, such as viewing things from the perspective of friends, or viewing yourself from the perspective of others, and feeling the feelings of

A multi-person perspective exchange, direct face-to-face interaction

The game experience method, from the first-person perspective, helps autistic children to engage directly in face-to-face social reciprocity activities with virtual characters, and

Similar concepts can also be presented in the creation of science and technology art. For example, the work is called the inter dis-communication machine created by the Hachiya [73]. The Dis-Communication Machine is a communication system that is aimed at transmitting and receiving sensual experiences used by two people wearing head-mounted displays. The 'machine' projects one wearer's sight and sound perception of the environment into the other one's display, thus confusing the borders between the identities of 'you' and 'me'. Through the exchange with the world, from the perspective of the different role objects, the participants can understand and feel the sensory world visually [73]. In the past, this visual sensory effect was achieved through the exchange and transmission link of entity lens images. Today, VR technology can achieve this surreal sensory experience. The case subjects can view others (first person) from their own perspective and interact with virtual characters, or view themselves from the perspective of others, or even watch their interaction with others (third person) from the perspective of another person (**Table 3**). These switching perspectives successfully achieve the visual thinking mode of transpositional thinking in the virtual world. For autistic children, the empathy training strategy can promote the physical sensory experience synchronously. Whether immersed in a specific virtual environment, or watching themselves interact with virtual characters, from God's perspective, they have achieved different visual sensory experiences, thus forming another training application of self-reference. This training framework has also been preliminarily verified by

(**Table 2**).

**46**

**Table 2.**

1 Viewing angle (perspective view)

*Types of Nonverbal Communication*

2 Special visual situation to achieve empathy and transpositional thinking skills

3 Teaching and implementing the mechanism

**4. Some specific situations in VR presents**

*The self-reference application of a synchronous visual sensory world achieved by CAVE-like immersive 3D technology (a-autistic participant, A"-(participant's virtual avatar captured by front or back camera), B-virtual character).*

## **4.1 Unique visual and sensory advantages of VR technology**

Researchers believe that VR technology has some unique visual advantages in the training of autistic children, which can form surreal visual and sensory benefits [43], such as a role perspective exchange of the first person and the third person (taking a perspective and empathy construction), and social situation simulation (**Table 3**). Compared to the existing teaching strategies, VR technology has considerable differences and has made major breakthroughs [45]. As a compensation mechanism of visual sense and additional training advantages given to the visual characteristics of autistic children, VR technology can encourage them to face more social objects and to observe the behavior and reactions of others. Moreover, these external stimuli can increase the possibility and opportunity of real social interaction between autistic children and their peers. Therefore, expanding these nonverbal communication training units, as well as visual assistance and additional sensory compensation, can help autistic children to reinterpret and solve their problems, even though they have a non-verbal social disorder and a weak imagination. The unique visual and sensory advantages of these VR technologies have repeatedly reminded researchers that they should make good use of VR technology, so that it can be applied and brought into play in these unique special education fields. In the next section, we will further explain and analyze the visual and sensory advantages of these VR technologies.

social simulation training under the game mechanism of specific social situation guidance and role exchange. However, the inborn social defects of autistic people often make them resist such game mechanisms. The main reason is that they are not interested in the interactive content, or that it is difficult to make a social conjecture of game interaction. These problems are related to their innate weak imagination, their inability to think transpositionally, or their own rigid behavior problems. Therefore, it is necessary for VR technology to move from the framework of situation simulation and to gradually cross over to the psychological and sensory level, because then it will obtain better results. The following section will provide some

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

**5.1 AR technology can be used to guide social visual cues and provide**

Whether in non-verbal social communication or in different visual image information, AR technology is considered to be a scanner. Through a hand-held tablet, PC or other imaging devices, any image information can be converted into a scanning icon that is suitable for AR application (**Figure 7**). Moreover, through lens sensing in front of a hand-held tablet or PC, the AR app can overlay dynamic information images (such as 3D animations, additional visual information assistance, videos and audio media, etc.) behind the static images. Researchers call this a framework approach for visual cue guidance, which means that it constructs an autistic child's sensory cognition of the visual guidance through a fixed visual framework (they are usually static images, such as social storybooks, which are commonly used in autism training). With a fixed visual cue framework and sequential story guiding the content, children with autism can quickly grasp the main structure of social stories through visual images and they can then extend to more complex and diverse social content, or context, details. This division of labor can greatly reduce the cognitive load of autistic children in their understanding of information, through the hierarchical information of AR technology, and it can also

*AR realizes hierarchical visual indexing. Firstly, the fixed visual structure is used to help autistic children master the social context framework. Secondly, AR technology is used to link further videos and audio*

suggestions for AR and VR, respectively.

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

**additional extended information**

**5. Discussion**

**Figure 7.**

**49**

*information [21].*

#### **4.2 VR technology can help autistic children to widely connect to a real social environment and different social situation stimulations**

As described above, the past training in social reciprocity behavior would make autistic children come into wide contact with real social environments and different social situations, which can promote their skills in social reciprocity with others. VR technology has sensory advantages in situation simulation and social training, especially in the early stages of its application. It is often used to solve the problems that autistic children are afraid to face in the real world, and to help them to simulate and experience different situations, such as going to school, taking busses, shopping, or to solve different levels of social fear problems [70]. However, most of these training styles are still in the stage of scenario simulation, which is also the most common and best operating mechanism of VR technology. Situation simulation solves most of the social training problems that cannot be repeated in real situations, such as helping autistic children learn how to complete a certain task under different situations (such as customers checking-out in front of a cash register, or ordering meals for customers by using an ordering machine). These training mechanisms are mostly aimed at solving the problems that autistic children need to face and overcome in real society, and to encourage them to be able to enter the workplace, in order to integrate better into the society [30].

Most researchers recognize that VR technology has several major advantages. For example, the situation simulation training developed by VR technology can be used for repeated situation training and task operations and can help the children to overcome some situations, which may be difficult to do in the real world. Another example is that it allows autistic children to experience social interactions by using different roles. However, it is undeniable that social interaction in the face of a real life environment cannot be replaced, and so VR technology is generally recognized as an early-training framework that can help autistic children to integrate into a real-life environment. When an autistic patient is unable to successfully face a real social field, he is considered to be in need of training through role-playing and placing him in social situations. He can then carry out situation experience 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*

social simulation training under the game mechanism of specific social situation guidance and role exchange. However, the inborn social defects of autistic people often make them resist such game mechanisms. The main reason is that they are not interested in the interactive content, or that it is difficult to make a social conjecture of game interaction. These problems are related to their innate weak imagination, their inability to think transpositionally, or their own rigid behavior problems. Therefore, it is necessary for VR technology to move from the framework of situation simulation and to gradually cross over to the psychological and sensory level, because then it will obtain better results. The following section will provide some suggestions for AR and VR, respectively.

## **5. Discussion**

**4.1 Unique visual and sensory advantages of VR technology**

advantages of these VR technologies.

*Types of Nonverbal Communication*

Researchers believe that VR technology has some unique visual advantages in the training of autistic children, which can form surreal visual and sensory benefits [43], such as a role perspective exchange of the first person and the third person (taking a perspective and empathy construction), and social situation simulation (**Table 3**). Compared to the existing teaching strategies, VR technology has considerable differences and has made major breakthroughs [45]. As a compensation mechanism of visual sense and additional training advantages given to the visual characteristics of autistic children, VR technology can encourage them to face more social objects and to observe the behavior and reactions of others. Moreover, these external stimuli can increase the possibility and opportunity of real social interaction between autistic children and their peers. Therefore, expanding these nonverbal communication training units, as well as visual assistance and additional sensory compensation, can help autistic children to reinterpret and solve their problems, even though they have a non-verbal social disorder and a weak imagination. The unique visual and sensory advantages of these VR technologies have repeatedly reminded researchers that they should make good use of VR technology, so that it can be applied and brought into play in these unique special education fields. In the next section, we will further explain and analyze the visual and sensory

**4.2 VR technology can help autistic children to widely connect to a real social**

As described above, the past training in social reciprocity behavior would make autistic children come into wide contact with real social environments and different social situations, which can promote their skills in social reciprocity with others. VR technology has sensory advantages in situation simulation and social training, especially in the early stages of its application. It is often used to solve the problems that autistic children are afraid to face in the real world, and to help them to simulate and experience different situations, such as going to school, taking busses, shopping, or to solve different levels of social fear problems [70]. However, most of these training styles are still in the stage of scenario simulation, which is also the most common and best operating mechanism of VR technology. Situation simulation solves most of the social training problems that cannot be repeated in real situations, such as helping autistic children learn how to complete a certain task under different situations (such as customers checking-out in front of a cash register, or ordering meals for customers by using an ordering machine). These training mechanisms are mostly aimed at solving the problems that autistic children need to face and overcome in real society, and to encourage them to be able to enter the

Most researchers recognize that VR technology has several major advantages. For example, the situation simulation training developed by VR technology can be used for repeated situation training and task operations and can help the children to overcome some situations, which may be difficult to do in the real world. Another example is that it allows autistic children to experience social interactions by using different roles. However, it is undeniable that social interaction in the face of a real life environment cannot be replaced, and so VR technology is generally recognized as an early-training framework that can help autistic children to integrate into a real-life environment. When an autistic patient is unable to successfully face a real social field, he is considered to be in need of training through role-playing and placing him in social situations. He can then carry out situation experience and

**environment and different social situation stimulations**

workplace, in order to integrate better into the society [30].

**48**
