Designing Sensory-Inclusive Virtual Play Spaces for Children

In this work in progress, I explore five interaction designs for the highly variable sensory needs of three neurodiverse children. I aim to create a repertoire of interactions that can be employed in future systems aimed at inclusive play. The three children in this work have educational labels of neurotypical, ADHD, and autism, but rather than design for their general labels or IQ scores, I designed for their individual sensory profiles. Based on clinical tools for sensory integration, I take the next step in a long-term project---this is the second stage where I explore three users' experience with five high fidelity VR prototypes across 26 user sessions. I aim to understand how virtual environments and user interactions can support sensory needs---and thus how to make future collaborative VR systems "sensory-accessible". I contribute empirical findings for accommodating sensory differences for neurodiverse children regarding interaction design for children by tying clinically-supported design features to sensory-inclusive techniques.