Virtual Reality for Students with Special Needs

While virtual reality technology is already widely used in business and culture for immersion in new worlds of experience, virtual reality (VR) in the field of special and inclusive education is still not widespread. Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are often externally determined to various degrees in their lives. To cope with everyday life independently, practicing action skills is necessary. In a real-world physical environment, this is not always easy. Virtual reality offers a possibility to acquire skills without restrictive conditions.

Within the project “Virtual Reality for Children with Special Needs” the potentials of virtual reality for students with IDD are explored. This research and development (R&D) project is a collaborative effort of the University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW Winterthur), the University of Teacher Education in Special Needs (HfH Zürich), and Vivala as the Foundation which supports persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities.