Improving spatial awareness in physically disabled children using virtual environments

Virtual environments (VEs) are three-dimensional computer-simulations that can be explored in real time and which incorporate objects and events with which the user can interact. This article describes some investigations into the potential of using virtual environments to improve the spatial learning abilities of physically disabled children. There is evidence that the degree of spatial impairment in such children varies as a function of their early mobility, that their ability to learn how to orientate themselves in VEs improves with practice, and that spatial knowledge from VE exploration transfers to the real world