Virtual Reality Multiplayer Experiential Training: Guiding People with Autism towards New Habits

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, at a certain point in their lives, may spend their days in Day Activity Centers. Approaching this habit for the first time is an everyday life change that can often be confusing and overwhelming. To support people during this transition, we propose a virtual reality application based on an immersive and interactive digital twin of an existing center in the city of Torino, Italy. In the virtual environment, users can try several times the experience before facing it in the physical world, following an experiential training approach, with the goal of making the adaptation smoother and alleviating anxiety. In virtual reality, users can explore the space and perform some of the activities available in the center, guided by a virtual avatar, that is controlled by a caregiver. In the current work, we report a preliminary system validation to assess usability by considering several factors, including user experience, sense of presence and negative effects. Our findings suggests positive scores for all the considered parameters.