Augmented reality: Teens test technology aimed at helping anxiety
Therapy which uses virtual technology is being tested as a means of supporting teenagers with anxiety and those who struggle to attend school.Cardiff Youth Service, part of Cardiff council's education department, has helped to test and develop a mobile app which uses augmented reality (AR) as an intervention for anxiety and social isolation.Initial findings suggest the technology, which will be piloted in some schools in Cardiff and Swansea, has resulted in an "increase in social connection" and reduced levels of anxiety.The Children's Commissioner for Wales said any intervention which could engage young people and help their emotional wellbeing was to be welcomed.
AR is an interactive experience where your real-world environment is augmented, added to or enhanced using computer generated content.Counsellor Angela Mcmillan, who developed the AR therapy app, said the idea came from support sessions with young people in the south Wales valleys who had been struggling to attend school due to anxiety and social isolation."I'm really curious as to how we can use technology for good," she said."Instead of thinking of it as something we do by ourselves, how might we use technology where we are then able to share that with the person next to us?"The app uses gaming technology to allow a young person to design a flower and choose a structure to support its growth and the weather conditions.Users can then superimpose the digital images onto their physical surroundings using their device.
"What we found was young people were using the devices to move around their physical space but also interacting with each other in a playful way and we know that play is incredibly important for child development," said Ms Mcmillan.A group of young people who are supported by Cardiff Youth Service were the first to test the AR app.Lili, 16, said: "It's easy to use because you can separate it from yourself. It's easier to look at your emotions from an outside perspective."I think it could be helpful for a lot of people. If someone didn't really like talking then it can be like an ice breaker to open up conversations with their counsellor."I think it would be particularly useful for people with social anxiety."Jonas, 15, said: "The thoughts of the day's experiences are going through my mind as I'm choosing the different things."It's creative and I've never seen something like this before."
It is hoped the technology will help certain individuals, particularly those who are neurodivergent, to feel more comfortable using images to express how they are feeling."We're just about to start some pilots in schools in Swansea and Cardiff. What we have seen so far in our initial pilots is an increase in social connection," said Ms Mcmillan."I think a key element of this is that if we feel a sense of belonging, that improves our wellbeing and the way we want to interact with the world. "A by-product of that might be that young people want to go back into education or attend that in different ways."
The Children's Commissioner for Wales, Rocio Cifuentes, said school attendance remained "a big problem" as the number of children missing more than 10% of their schooling had doubled since the pandemic."There are multiple complex reasons for this, but we know emotional mental health and wellbeing does play a part and school anxiety is common," Ms Cifuentes said."I think it's really important to be considering any intervention which is evidence based and is showing to be effective but I also think it's important to listen to children and young people and what they need. "The world is evolving, technology is evolving and I think where schools can use that technology effectively to support children and young people's attendance, that's to be welcomed."Cardiff council said young people had "been given a voice and had valuable input in developing this tool which provides a way for them to communicate using an approach that they feel comfortable with".
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BBC News
21-04-2025
- BBC News
Augmented reality: Teens test technology aimed at helping anxiety
Therapy which uses virtual technology is being tested as a means of supporting teenagers with anxiety and those who struggle to attend Youth Service, part of Cardiff council's education department, has helped to test and develop a mobile app which uses augmented reality (AR) as an intervention for anxiety and social findings suggest the technology, which will be piloted in some schools in Cardiff and Swansea, has resulted in an "increase in social connection" and reduced levels of Children's Commissioner for Wales said any intervention which could engage young people and help their emotional wellbeing was to be welcomed. AR is an interactive experience where your real-world environment is augmented, added to or enhanced using computer generated Angela Mcmillan, who developed the AR therapy app, said the idea came from support sessions with young people in the south Wales valleys who had been struggling to attend school due to anxiety and social isolation."I'm really curious as to how we can use technology for good," she said."Instead of thinking of it as something we do by ourselves, how might we use technology where we are then able to share that with the person next to us?"The app uses gaming technology to allow a young person to design a flower and choose a structure to support its growth and the weather can then superimpose the digital images onto their physical surroundings using their device. "What we found was young people were using the devices to move around their physical space but also interacting with each other in a playful way and we know that play is incredibly important for child development," said Ms Mcmillan.A group of young people who are supported by Cardiff Youth Service were the first to test the AR 16, said: "It's easy to use because you can separate it from yourself. It's easier to look at your emotions from an outside perspective."I think it could be helpful for a lot of people. If someone didn't really like talking then it can be like an ice breaker to open up conversations with their counsellor."I think it would be particularly useful for people with social anxiety."Jonas, 15, said: "The thoughts of the day's experiences are going through my mind as I'm choosing the different things."It's creative and I've never seen something like this before." It is hoped the technology will help certain individuals, particularly those who are neurodivergent, to feel more comfortable using images to express how they are feeling."We're just about to start some pilots in schools in Swansea and Cardiff. What we have seen so far in our initial pilots is an increase in social connection," said Ms Mcmillan."I think a key element of this is that if we feel a sense of belonging, that improves our wellbeing and the way we want to interact with the world. "A by-product of that might be that young people want to go back into education or attend that in different ways." The Children's Commissioner for Wales, Rocio Cifuentes, said school attendance remained "a big problem" as the number of children missing more than 10% of their schooling had doubled since the pandemic."There are multiple complex reasons for this, but we know emotional mental health and wellbeing does play a part and school anxiety is common," Ms Cifuentes said."I think it's really important to be considering any intervention which is evidence based and is showing to be effective but I also think it's important to listen to children and young people and what they need. "The world is evolving, technology is evolving and I think where schools can use that technology effectively to support children and young people's attendance, that's to be welcomed."Cardiff council said young people had "been given a voice and had valuable input in developing this tool which provides a way for them to communicate using an approach that they feel comfortable with".
NBC News
22-11-2024
- NBC News
Vaccines don't cause autism. What does?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s false claims linking autism to childhood vaccinations are receiving new scrutiny now that President-elect Donald Trump has selected him to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, a sprawling agency with a budget of $1.7 trillion that oversees research into both autism and vaccines. The myth that autism is caused by childhood vaccines — proposed in 1998 by a British doctor who was later banned from practicing medicine in the United Kingdom — has been thoroughly debunked. Hundreds of studies have found vaccines to be safe. The World Health Organization estimates that over the past 50 years, immunizations have saved 154 million lives around the world. Kennedy, who espouses a number of health-related conspiracy theories, has pointed to vaccines to explain the substantial rise in autism diagnoses in recent decades, which have ballooned from an estimated 1 in 150 children in 2000 to 1 in 36 today. Research suggests that much of that increase is due to increasing awareness and screening for the condition; changing definitions of autism to include milder conditions on the spectrum that weren't recognized in previous years; as well as advances in diagnostic technology. 'For a very long time, the anti-vaccine movement has been exploiting families of autistic people, promoting a market for pseudo-scientific treatments that don't provide the answers they're looking for and that can expose autistic people to real harm,' said Ari Ne'eman, co-founder of the nonprofit Autistic Self Advocacy Network and an assistant professor of health policy and management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 'More discredited conspiracy theories linking autism and vaccines are not the answer.' Timothy Caulfield, research director at the University of Alberta's Health Law Institute in Canada, who studies health misinformation, said that people often are more willing to believe conspiracy theories about conditions such as autism, whose causes are complex and not fully understood, than diseases with clear causes. People seem less inclined to speculate, for example, about alternative explanations for Down syndrome, which causes intellectual disabilities and has long been known to be caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21. 'It's really a shame because there are vulnerable families [of people with autism] who need our support,' said Judith Miller, a clinical psychologist and senior scientist and training director at the Center for Autism Research at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. 'Every dollar and hour spent trying to debunk a conspiracy theory is a dollar and an hour lost that could have been spent trying to understand how to help families.' A complex condition Finding the causes of autism is complicated, because it's not a single disorder, said Manish Arora, a professor of environmental medical and climate science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. 'Autism is a spectrum, not a single narrow disease,' Arora said. 'It's many, many things under one umbrella.' Although people diagnosed with autism often have similar strengths and challenges, 'there are many paths to autism and many presentations of autism,' Miller said. Scientists have found a variety of risk factors for autism — most of which exist before birth — but there is no single cause for a neurological and developmental condition that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn and behave. A number of the traits sometimes seen in people with autism — such as being sensitive to loud noises, for example, or finding it difficult to interpret social cues — are also found in people who have not been diagnosed with autism. Doctors diagnose autism based on a person's behavior, noting that there is no simple test for the condition, as there is for Covid or diabetes, said Arora, founder and CEO of a start-up company that researches biomarkers for autism and other neurological conditions. Finding the cause of an infectious disease — such as influenza, which is caused by the flu virus — is much more straightforward. While researchers continue to study the factors that influence the development of autistic traits, 'the one thing we know doesn't cause autism is vaccines,' said Catherine Lord, a psychologist and researcher at the Center for Autism Research and Treatment at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Genetic vulnerability Doctors have long known that genes play a large role in autism, simply by noting that autism can run in families. For example, in identical twins — who share all of their DNA — if one twin has autism, the other usually does, as well. In the case of fraternal twins — who share about half their DNA — if one fraternal twin has autism, the chance that the other will have autism ranges from 53% to 67%, according to an analysis of research studies. Scientists have identified more than 100 genes related to autism, Miller said, and genes are believed to play a role in 60% to 80% of cases. 'The genetics of autism have never been better understood,' said Dr. Gregory Cejas, medical director of the Autism Clinical Center and Fragile X Clinic at the Washington University School of Medicine. 'We're making leaps and bounds about known genetic causes of autism.' Yet genes clearly don't explain every case of autism. Autism is very different from conditions like sickle cell anemia or cystic fibrosis, which are caused by a single gene. Scientists believe that people develop autistic traits due to a combination of genetic vulnerability and environmental exposures, Lord said. 'People have found many, many different genetic patterns associated with autism, but none of them are only associated with autism and none of them are always associated with autism,' Lord said. For example, fragile X syndrome — caused by a mutated gene on the X chromosome — is the most common known cause of autism. But only a fraction of children with the genetic mutation actually develop autism, Miller said. It's possible that this mutation leaves some people more vulnerable to developing autistic characteristics, while others with the same mutations don't develop autistic traits, because they are shielded by protective factors that have not yet been identified. Some people blamed the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine with autism because symptoms of the condition often occur at around 12 to 15 months of age, the same time toddlers get that immunization. But Miller notes that 'most of the genetic conditions that affect our life and health aren't apparent at birth. Symptoms or characteristics won't show up until later, but the genetic code will have been with us the whole time.' Prenatal vulnerability Many of the known risk factors for autistic characteristics occur before birth or at the time of delivery, Arora said. Babies who experience complications at birth, such as their umbilical cord becoming wrapped around their neck, have a higher risk of autism. So do babies born prematurely, perhaps because of something that happened in the womb. Children are more likely to be diagnosed with autism if they have older fathers and possibly if they have older mothers, Miller said. It's not clear if something in the biology of older parents causes a child to have a higher risk of autism, or if socioeconomic issues could play a role. It's possible that older parents have better access to health care, making it more likely for their child to receive an autism diagnosis. A mother's health influences her child's autism risk in several ways, according to multiple studies: Children have a greater chance of being diagnosed with autism if their mothers were exposed to high levels of air pollution or developed a serious infection, such as the flu or pneumonia, while pregnant. While Ne'eman, of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, said he's not opposed to basic biological research on autism or its causes, he said those studies do little to help people with autism overcome the barriers they face in their everyday lives. He notes that only 8.4% of the $419 million spent on autism research in the United States is devoted to support and services for people with autism. 'We need an autism research agenda,' he said, 'that reflects the true priorities of autistic people and our families: supports across the lifespan and inclusion in the community.'
The Guardian
14-11-2024
- The Guardian
Seven tips to be better at Call of Duty Black Ops 6
Let me guess: you recently bought Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, strayed into the multiplayer mode and now you're being mercilessly pummelled by hundreds of teenagers with suggestive usernames? Don't worry, that's perfectly normal. Call of Duty has always been the arcade twitchfest of the online shooter scene, but Black Ops 6 has a whole new feel thanks to its omni-movement system, which lets you dive, roll and sprint in every direction. And the weapons have all been completely redesigned. It is, as Olivia Rodrigo put it, brutal out there. So I asked two excellent pro players – Ethan 'Fifakill' Pink and Liam 'Jukeyz' James – for their tips. Instead of laughing and pointing at me, they agreed. If you're just getting into CoD, stick with the assault rifles or submachine guns [SMGs] – they suit the smaller maps and intense engagement speed in Black Ops 6. 'My favourite assault rifle [AR] is probably the Model L, although it's so good professionals have agreed not to use it – they've moved to the AMES,' says Jukeyz. 'The SMG would be the Jackal which feels fun to use, or the KSV which is harder, but pretty over-powered'. Meanwhile Fifakill recommends the Kompakt 92. 'It has a super high fire rate and very good movement speed, you can absolutely destroy with it. But if you're more of a mid-range player, I'd say the Model L assault rifle is a really good option. It will take a while to unlock, but it's worth the effort – super TTK [time to kill] and very low recoil.' Gunsmith is where you can add modifications to your weapon, and it's vital for giving you the edge in encounters. 'For the majority of players, it's best to start by reducing recoil,' says Fifakill. 'Focus on attachments that reduce horizontal recoil – if the gun is bouncing up or down it's pretty simple to correct. But with left and right, while you're trying to track an enemy player, that's more difficult.' Jukeyz prioritises aim-down sight speed (how quickly you can get the gun into an aiming position), but also suggests attaching a vertical foregrip to counter recoil. 'I'd also suggest the Gunfighter wildcard,' adds Fifakill. 'It gives you eight attachments per gun, so you can have it all: better movement, a bigger mag and less recoil.' Black Ops 6 allows you to choose from 20 perks which give you buffs in specific areas. They're split into three categories – Enforcer (red), Recon (blue) and Strategist (green) – and if you pick three from the same type you get a bonus speciality perk. 'I've been running the red perks because that gives you a super speed bonus and you get extra health re-gen after you make a kill – it really benefits you if you're trying to run and gun,' says Fifakill. 'If you're trying to push for kills run three red perks: I like Gung Ho, Assassin and Double Time. If you're a slower player I'd go for blue perks and the speciality for that is useful. And if you're an objective player then run the three green perks.' Jukeyz favours Dexterity, Assassin and then Double Time: 'And because they're all red, it gives you the Enforcer speciality, which means killing enemies gets you a temp buff to movement speed and health re-gen. It's perfect for ARs or SMGs.' Earning experience points [XP] unlocks new items and scorestreaks so levelling up fast is a good idea. 'Use BankRoll as perk three,' suggests Jukeyz. 'Once you're getting double or triple kills, you'll unlock UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), Counter UAV and HARP (High-Altitude Reconnaissance Plane) a lot quicker. If you have all three activated at once, you get so much Assist XP from teammates using them all over the map. It's constant XP.' Stop playing on the giant OLED television in your living room: the response time will be slower than a dedicated monitor and it's hard to see everything on the screen while also checking your minimap and ammo count. Both our pros use a 27-inch monitor, with a 1440p resolution and at least 144Hz refresh rate. Also, switch from speakers to a headset. 'I use JBLs,' says Fifakill. 'But as long as you have a headset that has decent spatial audio you should be fine, and there are in-game settings you can tweak, for example, enabling Dolby Atmos which will help you to hear where footsteps are coming from.' Call of Duty multiplayer is a team game, so you need to think tactically even when you're with a bunch of strangers. 'If you really want to win an Objective mode (a multiplayer mode such as Control or Hardpoint which has a specific goal) on a public server, focus on spawn points,' says Fifakill. 'It's about going ahead to a new area where you know an objective is going to be and try to lock down the spawn point at that position for your team. It's not the most glamorous role, but it's useful. It means when the objective arrives, your team is going to be spawning close by, so you can get reinforcements a lot faster.' Jukeyz recommends a more social approach. 'A bit of communication is a good start,' he says. 'Who's watching what, who's taking the hard point. Get friends to play with you, or start chatting to people you meet in public servers who you think are good. Get a bit of structure with your gameplay – even shouting 'left' or 'right' (to indicate threats or where to run), is a start.' Fifakill reckons he spends 70% of a match watching the minimap, which becomes a lot more viable once you've learned the maps inside out. Watch for red markers which show the position of rival players and enemy fire; watch where your teammates are running, listen out for anything they 'ping' (mark on the map). Or as Jukeyz puts it: 'pay attention to everything'. Fifakill and Jukeyz are on Twitch and YouTube
