Research Pretext
Augmented reality is the perfect tool to gain an understanding of what ‘pretence’ is. Pretence may seem like an easy concept to grasp for most people, but this is a learned skill that we acquire early in childhood. ‘Pretence’ skills help us throughout life and are predictors for success, socially and emotionally. For most of us, pretence comes naturally with the prompting of adults and physical materials, but making this connection is not as easy for everyone. Research has found that those with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in particular have been known to find the connection between the real and imaginary world much harder to make.
ASD has a large impact on the individual, families and society. The annual cost of a wide range of support services for children such as contact with speech and language therapists and paediatricians (Barret et al. 2012, pg. 802) runs in to the hundreds of millions in the UK and US alike. Further, young adults with ASD are less likely to live independently, gain employment, maintain social contact with friends and family and have increased chances of co-occuring mental health conditions (Bishop-Fitzpatrick et al. 2016, pg. 2716).
Increasing pretence skills can benefit children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) can help them to achieve improved outcomes in later life and is therefore a key area to focus on. Early research using Augmented Reality has been shown to help children with ASD to make the connection and understand pretence.
Inspired by these earlier studies, this research looks into a novel use of AR which specifically addresses the idea of role play, which is one form of pretence. The concept is to use AR facial tracking capabilities of modern accessible devices such as mobile phones and tablets, to help children grasp the idea of ‘playing another character’. Right now, is the perfect timing for the combination of these ideas and technology. Many people in the UK and USA have access to devices capable of achieving this in their pocket and early research with bulkier custom devices has shown promise for the potential emergence of newer more accessible devices.
The game developed and shown in this video has been designed to help children, and in particular, those with Autism Spectrum Disorders to engage in role play. This in turn could help them to learn essential skills that role play has a part in playing, for example social and emotional skills.
