Abstract
Virtual dolphin-assisted therapy (DAT) can be used to treat children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), where interactions with virtual dolphins can be enabled by Virtual Reality (VR) technology. With the aid of VR, it is possible to reproduce an immersive environment with virtual objects to replicate the real-world DAT interactions. Using VR to create human–virtual dolphin interactions in an immersive setting allows DAT to be carried out virtually, protecting both participants, children and dolphins, from any harm or infections. The aim of recreating a DAT VR environment is also to make the treatment cheaper and more readily accessible to the masses of children with ASD. It can control the treatment environment and ensure the safety of the participants and those parties involved. A VR serious game, 3D Virtual Pink Dolphin is developed in Nanyang Technological University, which is running on both PC with single display screen and a 3D immersive room with 320-degree curved screens. The experiment has been conducted with children from a special needs school in Singapore.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the students, teachers, staffs, principal, and parents of AWWA School for their support, help, and feedback in this research work. Thanks also go to the Institute for Media Innovation at NTU, and Singapore Millennium Foundation for their funding support.
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Liu, W.R., Cao, Q., Cai, Y. (2021). Serious Game Design for Virtual Dolphin-Assisted Learning. In: Cai, Y., Cao, Q. (eds) When VR Serious Games Meet Special Needs Education. Gaming Media and Social Effects. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6942-9_6
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