Rowin’s (Assessment SIG Co-ordinator) has just sent me an article – Virtual Worlds Turn Therapeutic for Autistic Disorders – which describes how virtual worlds are being used for behavioural and social learning.  The article describes how a virtual environment in Second Life, for example, can be used to teach someone how to interact or behave in social situations without fear of consequences.

This safe environment is ideal for people to learn from their mistakes without having to worry about embarrassment, failure, social faux pas, etc.  Virtual worlds can also be a non-threatening means of interacting with other people, particularly for people who are worried about discrimination or who are not able to take part in real world social activities.

Perhaps if we all used virtual worlds to learn how to deal with and face up to our own issues without fear of hurting ourselves or others, the real world would be a better place.