AspergerSyndrome.org

Researchers in Texas believe that people with Asperger Syndrome may benefit from practicing skills in a virtual world known as “Second Life.”  The online therapy pairs the avatar (or icon that represents the person) of a clinician from the University of Texas at Dallas Center for Brain Health with that of a person with Asperger’s.  Then, they practice conversation skills and other interactions with one another in the virtual world.  The idea is that mastering the skills online will help the patient feel more comfortable with those skills in real life.  In an article on the ABC News website (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/OnCall/Story?id=4133184&page=3), the technique is referred to as “virtual socialization.”  Do the skills generalize from the virtual to the real world?  Perhaps, and hopefully more studies will research the benefits of this type of therapy.  In any event, it seems that the connections made and confidence built would nonetheless be helpful to a person with Asperger Syndrome.

Tags: asperger's, second life, virtual reality

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 5:17 am and is filed under Asperger Syndrome - General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.