Immersive Technology for Education – The use of Virtual Reality as a support for primary aged children with SEN, with focus on those with Autistic Spectrum Disorder
In recent years, there has been a significant rise in Special Educational Needs (SEN) children attending mainstream schools across the UK. The Department of Education (2024) researched that there are ‘1.6 million pupils in England had SEN, which is 101,000 more than the previous year.’ This has been attributed to changes in diet, access to technology and the more recent social difficulties of the COVID Pandemic. When focusing on a relevant project in today’s times, it was integral to choose something which not only had national relevance, but also relevance to the local community. Hull is a high deprivation area when comparing the country. ‘Hull is the 3rd most deprived local authority (out of 317) in England’ (Hull City Council, 2022). Therefore, it would not be out of the question to assume that the needs of children would be considerably higher. Upon researching this, it was evident that although the number of pupils attending a mainstream school in Hull with SEN was ‘relatively stable’ (Hull City Council, 2024), ‘19.7% of pupils in Hull schools had SEN, which is higher than the national average of 18.4%’ (Hull City Council, 2024). This formed the basis of choice for the project.
The aim for the project was to create a virtual learning environment which can be used for children with SEN – with an aim of targeting those with autism – which can support their educational and social needs. Through choosing this, the aim is to improve learning outcomes for those with SEN, something which Kang and Martin (2018) states is the future in creating a more ‘inclusive education’. McAllister and Hadjri (2013) believe that as a society, ‘we have a responsibility to provide an inclusive built environment’. Their target within their research was to promote inclusion for children with SEN within a mainstream school setting. This ethos formed the ethos for the Virtual Reality project. In more recent years, evidence suggests that while regular classrooms are supporting non-SEN children sufficiently, ‘enrollment of students with SEN is rising,’ while their meets are also not being met (Schwab, 2020).
It is safe to assume that the effects of a pandemic would affect all of those within education, both children with, and without SEN. Many studies since the pandemic have concluded that the effects are long-lasting, children today are still facing the challenges of not receiving adequate school support during and post pandemic. In a study by Onyema et al (2020), Quentin (2024) stated that ‘closing is very controversial, and it can have spillover effects on a large number of students in receiving schools.’ Furthermore, ‘. It can affect the quality of teaching and learning and academic achievement particularly for students with special needs or those with learning difficulties’ (Onyema et al, 2024). With the growing access to technology, the project projection was that a virtual environment be created which would enhance connection and communication between children and their educators. A focus on social barriers which were exacerbated by ‘isolations, quarantines, and lockdowns’ (Onyema et al, 2024), were at the forefront for this project, particularly in high deprivation areas.
To create a successful and engaging learning environment, research was conducted into what would be affordable, accessible, and useful for schools in the local area. A decision was made to use met interfacing through Unity to create an accessible learning environment that could offer ‘students more motivation, involvement, and satisfaction, managing to promote learning more than to traditional contexts’ (Rega et al, 2022). The conclusions of this researched study found that ‘students are intrinsically motivated when learning takes place using VR, and the result obtained is manifested in terms of higher learning than less motivated students’ (Rega, at al., 2022). This supported the decision of using a VR learning environment which can engage and teach children skills which they may be lacking from previous educational experiences. Concetta Caruba and Covarrubias (2024) mentions that VR enters education as a tool to promote a child’s learning experiences through ‘engagement and participation of all students.’ Through this, the ideas for the mini games were formulated. The target for this game was to create a familiar environment to the children, a school classroom and playground, which can improve specific skills that SEN children may struggle with. VR can be used as an effective tool for specific skills training, with regards to cognitive, motor and understanding skills. Concetta Caruba and Covarrubias (2024) states that using VR can prepare children through ‘cognitive training’ and ‘a genuine digital learning environment.’
When breaking down the concept into different and more focused areas, it was clear that the areas needed to be specific to the needs of a neuro-divergent child. ‘Literacy development is an essential process for special needs children’ (Jadán-Guerrero and Guerrero, 2015), it was therefore decided that one target for the game was to enhance confidence and engagement with reading skills for autistic children. Through a realistic environment, ‘participants can move around in a virtual world, see it from different angles, grab it and use it’ (Zheng, Chan, and Gibson, 1998). ‘Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder present various difficulties in social interaction, communication obstacles, and restricted and repetitive behaviors’ (Bravou, Oikonomidou and Drigas, 2022). Subsequently, a clear interface with a likeable and accessible character should be used to guide the player and encourage understanding within the environment. For this a simple and clear asset was used to draw attention to the games and the reality, rather than forcing extra difficulties on the children. For the other internal games within the VR, the aim was to target those other areas of difficulty. For the splat game, an engaging and simple interface was used with a focus on the use of motor skills. The research conducted at a local school found that children respond better to less instruction, children enjoy playing shooting games and they also do not respond well to timed activities. In another area of the Virtual Reality, children can regulate their emotions while learning and practicing basic mathematical skills in a farming setting. A recent review connecting VR with children with autism (ASD) have found that the most effective interventions ‘improve social and emotional skills’ (Bravou, Oikonomidou and Drigas, 2022) through regulation of emotions through doing common and calming daily activities. This laid the foundation for this farming activity, intertwining the two common needs of ASD children.
When choosing methodology for this particular project, it was important to acknowledge the rising issues for SEN children within education. Through multiple discussions with teachers within the sector, who work closely with these children in the local area, it became comprehensible that something needed to be done to tackle the growing difficulties in the sector. Newbutt and Bradley (2022) mention that the value of VR is transparent, ‘it is a way to better support autistic groups moving forward.’ One of the growing criticisms of the education sector and this field of research is ‘the lack of involvement from practitioners in research for educational approaches for autistic population’ (Newbutt and Bradley, 2022). This formed a starting point. Key questions such as: what can we do locally? What do the teachers need and want? What are the daily struggles in educating neuro-diverse students? To answer these, research needed to be collected from a local school to ensure that the project directly responded to a societal need. A local teacher noted that ‘with the lack of recent funding within schools, as well as the depletion of support staff in the classroom, children are being left behind. Not due to the lack of efforts from the teaching staff, instead due to the one-on-one time a teacher gets with a student’ (Tether, 2024). Teaching staff at the local Paisley Primary School (2024), noted that creating an easy and more independent interface ‘can tackle social and emotional needs, while not putting enhanced pressure on the educators within an establishment’. There is rising interest in the research and support of ASD pupils in schools, children have a new and increasing interest to the more available technologies of their generation.
The use of children using technology has its own advantages. It helps with multitasking skills, connecting socially, showing shared interests as well as developing digital literacy skills. Due to this, children are finding technology more accessible from a younger age. This therefore opens VR as a more appropriate tool for teaching within schools. In a local research study within Paisley Primary School, every SEN child who was interviewed, was interested and excited at the prospect of using VR technology for learning. They in turn were given a selection of questions based around visuals, sounds, commands, and interests. The results of this research encouraged the project and formed the foundation for the concept. It was found in a similar study, that ‘participants (children aged 6-12 with ASD diagnosis) who received the technological intervention, significantly improved in affective expression and social reciprocity, compared to those who were in the control group’ (Ip, et al., 2022).
Various contributions were made in the effort to support ASD pupils within a primary school setting. Using the research, the study was molded around the needs and likes of children between the ages of 7-11. This research of the appropriate target audience ensured that the concept remained relevant to those who would be using the VR. Examples of the data can be found in the charts attached. To engage with the target audience, children were given multiple options and choices which would direct the study and thereby direct the concept for the virtual environment. The study found that many children felt overstimulated by crowds and loud noises, guiding the VR environment to be a quiet and calming place with simple interactions with a main guide. In addition to this, the children mentioned that they disliked fast timed activities and struggled with long written instructions. As a result, more practical activities were added which showed instructions rather than listing long instructions. Importantly, the virtual environment has slow timed activities to ensure no additional stress was given to the players. An important ethos for this VR was to de-escalate overpowering emotions and dysregulation, so a calming learning environment was vital. To support this fairly localized personal study, further research into the links between VR and SEN was conducted. Research summarized that although there were some disadvantages. Ip et al (2022) found that there were some ‘technical and logistical complexities of using and enabling hardware and software systems.’ However, the advantages outweighed these and Ip et al (2022) admitted that there are approaches within schools which have been unexplored.
Responding to the personalized study of a local school, artwork and concept designs were drawn up. These needed to reflect the needs of the children and although they were not as expected from other research, the aim was to meet their needs as a priority. Muted colours were used as well as a familiar classroom environment to make the environment easily recognizable to the pupils; they struggled with the concept of the unknown. As a supplementary area for the VR, a ‘calm corner’ was included which was a free area for creative outlets. Within each classroom of the local school, these were featured as an area where children could physically go to regulate their emotions. This attributed to a child’s familiarity to their environment, allowing them to be fully immersed in the experience. From these conceptual designs, it was then time to create a basic prototype of the game. To do this, research into level design techniques was key. Studies such as that of Lahiri, Bekele, Dohrmann, Warren and Sarker (2013) found that children with ASD have ‘potent impairments in social communication skills.’ Their study found that ‘eye-gaze monitoring systems used to design intervention strategies’ (Lahiri, Bekele, Dohrmann, Warren and Sarker, 2013) monitored engagement and physiological responses when using VR. Using this type of VR environment with autistic children was found to ‘improve social task performance.’ The VR environment was created with socially appropriate mechanisms to mirror the findings of this study.
When creating the concept VR environment, there were a culmination of different difficulties and challenges to overcome. Met interfacing Unity was used which featured numerous updates. These then caused bugs which adversely affected the usability of the game. The bugs resulted in the VR not connecting correctly with the actions necessary to run smoothly. To overcome these difficulties, updates were needed on the Unity program. The result was successful. As each of the updates were released, the VR environment then worked adequately. A personal difficulty was the use of this engine. Unity was not a familiar system. In the past, many environments had been created using Unreal. To master this with confidence, two approaches were taken. Online tutoring was supportive in ways to model, move and understand the program, and online videos successfully showed step-by-step instructions. These were needed to progress with the program in a time-appropriate manner. As an outcome, the game was created on time, with working attributes. Tutor support was also fundamental and proved to be valuable to code movements of the games. Coding is not an area of confidence, therefore support from tutors, who were competent coders, ensured the concept game was possible.
The last a most challenging aspect to the project was more physical and ethical. As the concept had a target audience of children, it was crucial to have local and up-to-date data, including preferences and reactions from children who would use the VR game. It would have been beneficial to undergo a DBS evaluation to conduct the data personally. However, this was not possible due to the time constraints of the assignment. To tackle this appropriately and with a consideration for the ethics of working with children, a local teacher who had these permissions and knowledge in the subject area was enlisted to conduct the research in school. The teacher was provided with target questions, the target audience, and the aim. She then discussed the study with the Special Educational Needs Coordinator and Head Teacher within the school. This was to ensure that the study was appropriately and accurately conducted with ethical considerations at the forefront. This was to ensure the safety and anonymity of all children involved and ensure that the study corresponded with the school’s code of ethics. Paisley Primary School (2024) commented that the study was something ‘hugely exciting’ and ‘a worthwhile venture into ensuring inclusivity for all children, particularly those with SEN.’ Although the organization of this study proved to be difficult, the end result was exceedingly promising as the school mentioned that ‘we would be excited to use this technology in our SEN POD area, to allow children with additional needs to access the level of education that they deserve’ (Paisley Primary School, 2024).
For this project, it was necessary to create a Virtual Reality environment which would have significance for an area of society – for this project, the focus was SEN in education. To achieve this, it was integral to research previous attempts for this technology as well as the cultural and social impacts this would have on children in mainstream schools. The lifespan of this project was initially four months to create a prototype which could be used in schools to support children. However, the overall timeline of this project spans much further than this. If successful, it would span much longer than this, with a larger outreach to schools in other areas. To evaluate the project, it was crucial to identify the strengths and weaknesses to enhance the future performance of the project, this would thereby measure the overall success. The success criteria for this project comprised of three key aims: to make an environment suitable to children with SEN, aged 7-11, to create an environment and useable assets within Unity, and to abide by the ethics and needs of the target audience in research. To measure the success of these success criteria, a collection of interviews was taken by teachers and pupils within the school, research was undergone to ensure the children with these specific needs were part of the creative process, and protective rights and ethics were followed while researching data to create an appropriate concept.
Feedback from a local teacher found the project to be successful, ‘the project is focused on something which more should be considering within society. The excitement on the children’s faces was born from the inclusivity of the project and the thought of getting to use technology to enhance their learning’ (Tether, 2024). The completed project was shown to a young girl, 7 years old with a neurodivergence, her comments were as follows, ‘I like this game, I like that this it is at school because I know school. I would play this, but I wish the games worked like my tablet’ (Anonymous pupil, 2024). From this it is clear that the concept is successful, but in the future, more focus needs to be on how the games work. This connects explicitly to the timeline of the project. ‘VR, can be useful as it allows instructors and therapists to offer a safe, repeatable and diversifiable environment during learning’ (Bellani, Fornasari, Chittaro, Brambilla, 2011), in this respect, the project met all criteria for a diverse and inclusive environment. Although the Unity Engine ‘appeals to developers for its flexibility, scalability and user-friendly interface’ (Soni and Kaur, 2024), the project would have been more successful with fewer technical difficulties if the project had been carried out on the Unreal Engine. It has a larger developer community and ‘capability across all platforms and devices’ (Soni and Kaur, 2024) making it more appropriate for schools where it would be used on tablets, computers, and other devices.
Throughout the project, there were various skills which were practiced and through overcoming difficulties, skills were improved. Initially, the predominant skill, which was learnt, was the dynamics and use of a new game engine – Unity. Although not an expert in using Unity, skill levels have improved leading to a more confident usage. This, in turn, has improved the time turn around, as sculpting, coding, and organizing the assets has quickened. In the past, an Unreal engine was used for similar projects, by trying something new, understanding of different engines has broadened. To create a concept-centered around the education sector, research was imperative to create a useful and appropriate VR environment. Through vigorous reading of studies of relevance, understanding has grown of Special Educational Needs, as well as the needs of schools in the local area. This thereby allowed the concept to come to fruition. As the target audience was aimed at younger children, a different and new thought process came into play within this project. Unlike other previous projects, a greater consideration for ethics, appropriateness and accessibility was taken. Although the outcome of the project was successful, in the future it would be more useful to speak to a wider number of professionals in the education sector. The data collected would have also been more ratified if a broader collection was taken. For example, more schools included or different schools in varying deprivation areas. When creating the assets for the project, less time planning and more time sculpting and compiling the environment would have allowed for a fuller environment which works more efficiently. Overall, the project was successful. In the future, it is a concept which with further work and research could be a helpful tool to help those with learning difficulties be supported within mainstream school environments. ‘The project was exciting to the pupils, they enjoyed the research process and having their say. If the project were continued to completion, we at Paisley Primary School would be happy to use it to support our pupils in our SEN area in school’ (Paisley Primary School, 2024).
References
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Advantages
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