HoloType-CR: Cross Reality Communication Training for Minimally Verbal Autistic Persons

About one in three autistic individuals cannot reliably communi-cate using speech. Such Minimally Verbal Persons (MVPs) can thus benefit from alternative, text based communication techniques such as typing. Many MVPs employ trusted Communication and Regulation Partners (CRPs) who impart training to communicate by pointing at letters on a letter board. The CRP holds the letter board and helps an MVP acquire motor, i.e., pointing, skills while helping the individual with attentional and emotional regulation is-sues. While one-on-one CRP support has helped many individuals move on to independent typing leading to dramatically improved social and educational outcomes, it remains expensive and out of reach for many. Recently, immersive typing training systems have been developed for MVPs. Such systems are designed for an MVP to independently improve their pointing and spelling skills in the context of highly engaging, age-appropriate and customized educational modules. However, to be successful, these systems would benefit from a transitioning period where a CRP imparts training on the use of such systems. We outline the first attempt at developing such a system by leveraging cross reality. We build the cross reality application on top of HoloType, a HoloLens 2 typing training application we developed earlier. With this system, an MVP can interact with an educational lesson delivered by HoloType. Simultaneously, a CRP can join in the session using another HoloLens or a tablet. Both the CRP and the MVP can access the same virtual world, e.g., holographic buttons to interact with a lesson. The CRP can observe how the MVP interacts with the virtual objects. Based on this, the CRP can help the MVP interact with the virtual world better. Our initial trials show that aspects of the traditional CRP-MVP letter board interaction can be simulated by this system thereby improving the likelihood of the adoption of systems such as HoloType by the MVP community.