ROCK HILL—April is Autism Awareness Month, and The Center for Discovery (TCFD), with the aid of the Liberty Police Department (LPD), has developed virtual reality (VR) training videos designed to help police officers better understand and interact with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). 

The LPD approached the TCFD—through Devin Brust, Senior Director of Safety and Security at TCFD and former detective for the LPD—requesting training on autism awareness, as the police often come into contact with individuals on the autism spectrum more and more. 

“I was thrilled to be able to work with the professionals at the Center for Discovery to produce this much-needed training. Autism awareness is absolutely critical training for law enforcement officers,” said Liberty Chief of Police Steven D’Agata. 

Using Virtual Reality (VR) as a tool for training has been gaining popularity in various industries. However, its use in the autism space is relatively new. 

ASD is a developmental disorder that affects the brain and nervous system and can impact a person’s life in many ways. Communication difficulties, social skill deficits, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviors are some of the core features of this disorder.

TCFD’s Director of Bioinformatics and Technologist, Conor Anderson, along with colleagues from AdventHealth, met at a conference in Florida and discussed the potential use of VR in the autism space. They identified how VR could be used to train staff, creating several scenarios for onboarding and allowing staff to experience potential real-life situations.

Anderson says that VR is an effective training tool due to its ability to improve memory retention through the integration of various sensory experiences. The visual and auditory experiences in VR create a realistic situation that helps the brain react as if it were real. 

What is VR?

Virtual Reality (VR) goggles are a type of wearable device that allows users to immerse themselves in a wholly digital environment. The goggles also have built-in sensors that track the user’s head movements, allowing them to look around the virtual environment just as they would in real life. 

Some goggles may also have built-in speakers or headphones, providing an immersive audio experience as well. By using VR goggles, users can feel as if they are actually inside a virtual world and interact with it in a way that feels incredibly lifelike.

Nick Niosi, Assistant Chief of the Pediatric Residential Program at the Center for Discovery, stated that the VR training program is a powerful tool for training police officers to interact with individuals with autism and working with the LPD was a great experience and beneficial. 

“We’re very fortunate to have that community integration already,” said Niosi, adding that the project could not be completed without the help of LPD in providing in-depth police resources and knowledge. 

“The process of making the virtual reality videos was an amazing opportunity to work with staff members at the center in a collaborative process. I think my officers learned a great deal about how the Center for Discovery and other organizations like their function. The staff members got to experience law enforcement’s perspective on how we respond to various situations. I think everyone learned a great deal,” said D’Agata.

spond to a fight in the process.

Nick Niosi explained that the scenarios are designed to help police officers differentiate between individuals with ASD and those experiencing a mental health crisis. He explained that individuals with ASD often have intellectual disabilities and are less able to communicate and follow directions. 

For the LPD, the officers were involved with the filming of the scenarios along with the actors, so they were able to learn from the training and actually participated in the training videos themselves. 

“The videos that were produced were an amazing training method to deliver this important information to officers. The combination of the immersive virtual reality experience and the subject matter experts from the Center for Discovery’s traditional classroom presentation was powerful,” said D’Agata. 

Niosi added that officers need this in their “bag of tools” since it differs from how they would handle the general population and help individuals with ASD. The new training aims to help police officers understand the hallmarks of ASD so they can identify individuals with ASD in the community and approach them appropriately.

And in doing the training virtually, the immersive experience can be a more effective tool than taking a class and watching a video alone. 

The team behind the virtual reality training hopes to create more content like this in the future to reach a wider audience. With feedback from the LPD, they continuously improve the software to reflect real-life scenarios and make changes accordingly. 

“I look forward to continuing to work with the Center for Discovery to further enhance and develop this training,” D’Agata said. 

Anderson and Niosi said they also plan to create additional scenarios that police officers might encounter, such as domestic interactions.

“The immersive training is portable so that it can be provided to schools, hospitals, and other organizations,” said Anderson. 

While there is no contract for the VR training video to be used statewide or nationwide, Niosi would love to work with more local and national law enforcement to create more training scenarios. 

Anderson said, “One of the sorts of medium-term goals is to develop, essentially, an app that you can download from a VR headset and that will contain all of our training content.”

 Scenarios

TCFD and the LPD worked on two scenarios. The first scenario deals with a young girl with ASD (actor portrayal) having a difficult time with her family, and the police are called to a kidnapping.

And the other scenario deals with a young man with ASD (actor portrayal) who becomes aggressive with caregivers, and police re