**2.2 Advantages of A/VR technology in the social intervention training of autism**

A/VR technology for the social intervention training of autistic children has developed to another different sensory level and visual cognitive stage and, from the general game interactions, different teaching interaction strategies have gradually developed. One by one, they correspond with the different social aspects of autistic patients, such as teaching them how to pretend to be others and to symbolize things through AR technology games [47]. In addition, empathy, imagination, and non-verbal social communication skills are the abilities that ordinary children should have when they are involved in social interaction with adults. These abilities will also be indirectly reflected in the performance of their social skills. Therefore, A/VR technology has considerable advantages in the social training strategies of autistic children, not only because it can reproduce and simulate different situations, social roles, and other perspectives, but also because it is advantageous for the different psychological levels of vision. For example, VR can provide different

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

situations for autistic children to speculate about their current immersion feelings [43, 48], and the 3D modeling technique in AR technology also allows them to practice social reciprocity with specific characters through pretend-playing and role-playing [43]. In addition, AR technology can help autistic children to express themselves and watch their social status with others by playing pretend and symbolic games and seeing things from the perspective of different people [49]. A/VR technology has greatly broken through the traditional training framework, but at the same time, it has extended the training on the basis of the existing teaching strategies and theories, giving it a certain theoretical basis for development, as well as a learning framework [50].

### **2.3 AR technology solves the problem of a weak imagination in children with autism**

Because AR technology can add additional visual information onto the surface of specific objects, space environments, or image information, its application in teaching has been effective [51]. For autistic children, AR technology can help to overcome their weak imaginations, as it is capable of presenting visual information beyond words or pictures [52]. Moreover, the superimposed information can make autistic children perform the operation and teaching application of disguise and symbolic games. Below are some special teaching and training cases to illustrate and analyze the follow-up research.

## **2.4 AR technology can provide autistic children with a training situation by using the content of social games in disguise and symbolic play**

In the process of learning how to interact and play with others, impersonation and symbolic games play an important role for normal children [53]. The children can try to figure out different situations and things and even have a tacit understanding between each other, by pretending to be in a game [54, 55]. For example, in the game of pretending to have a specific role or occupation, such as a doctor, nurse, or salesman, normal children can use the available items at hand as accessories, in the process of their diagnosis and treatment, or they can use the items on display in stores, such as using bananas as telephones [56], using matchboxes to symbolize cars (**Figure 1**), using sticks to symbolize a king's scepter, or using a bottle as a microphone. In general, normal children can achieve the operation of each other's games by defining different objects, formulating game rules and interactive methods, and even developing them into more complex game mechanisms. For example, children are often "playing house "or "playing grown-up" games (playing house, is a traditional children's game. It is a form of make-believe, where players take on the roles of a nuclear family). They are game forms that help children to understand each other's gestures and social interactions and to grasp metaphorical symbols. In the process of playing these games, they need to use a lot of imagination, to follow the rules of the game, and to have the ability to understand the concept of the symbolic form and the ability to guess the intention [37, 52].

These games not only retain specific symbols and rules, but they also integrate many different ways of interaction. In addition to the game, some more subtle interactive information helps children to learn and familiarize themselves with more complex social skills in the process of the game. These techniques can convey different information through oral or non-verbal communication and they can also involve social and emotional connections. People will use some conventional objects or gestures to replace the content of complex dialogs. For example, certain body movements, including nodding, shaking hands, hugging, high-fives, and

that is used in pretend games or iconic games, while VR strengthens the experience of simulation and the environment of situational feelings, which means that they have different functions and characteristics in social training for autism. Therefore, we will show some examples in the following chapter, and explain how AR and VR

**AR technology VR technology (including VR CAVE)**

Enhancing the perceptual state of an immersive perception environment.

VR can provide different situations for autistic children to speculate about their current immersion feelings and to master environmental information through the

A head-mounted display is usually used to exchange perspectives in immersive situations, to strengthen and experience

The role perspective exchange of the first person and the third person (taking a perspective and empathy construction), and social situation simulation

Strengthens the behavioral cognitive training of (3) role perspective exchanges of the first person and the third person (taking a perspective and empathy construction), and (4) social

situation simulations

immersion environment.

empathy

AR technology can add additional visual information on the surface of specific objects, space environments, or image information, and its application in teaching has been effective

AR technology can help autistic children with their expressions through selfreference and watch their social status with others through pretend and symbolic games, or from the perspectives of different persons

Additional virtual information is superimposed on physical space objects, e.g. the 3D virtual car model is overlaid on the box, making it look like a real car. It is usually combined with board games

Pretend-play and symbolic play (imagination training), self-reference

Strengthens the mastery of (1) pretend play and symbolic play (imagination training), (2) self-reference and

or pretends to operate.

and imitative learning

imitative learning.

**2.2 Advantages of A/VR technology in the social intervention training of**

A/VR technology for the social intervention training of autistic children has developed to another different sensory level and visual cognitive stage and, from the general game interactions, different teaching interaction strategies have gradually developed. One by one, they correspond with the different social aspects of autistic patients, such as teaching them how to pretend to be others and to symbolize things through AR technology games [47]. In addition, empathy, imagination, and non-verbal social communication skills are the abilities that ordinary children should have when they are involved in social interaction with adults. These abilities will also be indirectly reflected in the performance of their social skills. Therefore, A/VR technology has considerable advantages in the social training strategies of autistic children, not only because it can reproduce and simulate different situations, social roles, and other perspectives, but also because it is advantageous for the different psychological levels of vision. For example, VR can provide different

technology are applied in the social skills training of autism.

*The differences of AR and VR technology in social skills training for autism.*

**autism**

**36**

1 Technical Description

*Types of Nonverbal Communication*

2 Technology core

3 Execution strategy

4 Learning mechanics

5 Social Skills Enhancement

**Table 1.**

shoulder-clapping, are used to express the participants' concern and interaction. Moreover, different body movements will naturally convey the distance and intimacy of their social relations. However, there is a certain degree of complexity that is required to implement such a social approach with autistic children, by using traditional teaching strategies. Because autistic children find it difficult to understand complex and abstract social communication codes, the symbolic concepts and social cognition content need to be translated [57, 58].

Therefore, this is an opportunity to use AR technology to help autistic children to understand and participate in pretend-games and try to use their imagine to decode the social signals, because pretend games usually require an imagination to figure out some state that does not exist on actual objects, for example, imagining a square matchbox as a car (**Figure 1**), or imagining some actions and processes in the game, such as using a toy car on the table to imagine a real car running on the road. In this way, AR technology can today superimpose the 3D model and animation of the car and overlap it on the square matchboxes, to let the matchboxes look like real cars. In this way, it can help autistic children to master the skills of pretend-play, by using visual methods.
