Innovative Therapies for Students with Autism using Virtual Reality with Vijay Ravindran Transformative Principal 339

Vijay Ravindran is the creator of Floreo, an app to help kids with Autism understand social interactions.

• Vijay’s son inspired the app.
• Combines iPhone with VR headset
• VR therapy.
• help in 2 ways. 1. Opportunities to create fun characters.
• Therapy can get patronizing and monotonous; we make it better.
• Don’t have a lot of practice in giving kids
• One of the fascinating things is that professionals use the scenes in ways that we haven’t predicted.
• Student who is afraid of going outside.
• Never seen child interact in traditional therapy.
• Big emphasis around research.
• Research partners Celebrate the Children, CHOP Center for Autism Research.
• Work on eye contact with students.
• NIH Fasttrack grant - helped fund groundbreaking research around Autism.
• What are the barriers you face?
• Helping families and professionals think about how you can schedule and integrate when they are already scheduled to the max.
• VR is still not commonplace.
• We carry the burden of being the first time adults and children experience VR.
• Support iPad via tele therapy sessions.
• floreotech.com for more information. Subscription plans for the software for homes and schools.
• How to be a transformative principal? Starting with understanding the unique situations that families are in right now. Start with the customer and work backwards.
• Knowing how much potential these kids have and knowing what’s possible if these

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