Virtual environments as spatial training aids for children and adults with physical disabilities

This paper outlines experimental work on the use of virtual environments in assessing and improving spatial skills in people with physical disabilities. New evidence is presented which suggests that the degree of spatial impairment experienced by physically disabled children varies dependent on early mobility, and that this impairment may persist into the teenage years. We also review an experiment demonstrating transfer of spatial knowledge from a virtual environment to the real world, and outline a proposed follow up study examining virtual experience versus physical model experience. Finally, other studies in progress are outlined that focus on vertical spatial encoding in virtual environments based on larger real world environments and include older users as the target group.