- Posted May 6, 2026
VR Training Helps Autistic People Navigate Police Encounters
People with autism find interactions with police officers to be difficult, if not harrowing.
They struggle to read social cues and can behave restlessly, increasing the risk that a police encounter might escalate, researchers say.
But an innovative virtual reality (VR) education program might help teens and adults with autism better manage interactions with law enforcement officers, researchers reported May 5 in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
A small group of patients who took the virtual reality program fidgeted less during live interactions with real police officers, researchers said.
They also responded better to police using the life skills imparted by the virtual reality training, the study found.
“Using mobile virtual reality is a great way to engage people and provide a flexible, personalized opportunity to practice specific skills,” senior researcher Julia Parish-Morris said in a news release. She’s an associate professor of psychology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Previous studies have shown that people with autism face higher rates of police contact compared to people without autism, and that those encounters can take a potentially dangerous turn, researchers said in background notes.
For the study, researchers created a VR-based program that uses cognitive-behavioral therapy to lead patients though interactions with virtual police officers.
The team then tested it with 47 people with autism between the ages of 12 and 60. Participants were randomly chosen to either take the VR program or watch a movie that modeled similar behavior during police encounters.
Results showed that both groups used their new skills when they had real-life practice encounters with Philadelphia police officers, researchers said.
However, the VR group fidgeted less during live interactions, and had better response and overall behavior, researchers said.
“Our findings show that this intervention can provide autistic individuals with generalizable skills and tools to help keep them safe,” Parish-Morris said.
Lead researcher Joseph McCleery, executive director of academic programs for the Kinney Center for Autism Education and Support at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, said the Philadelphia Police Department’s “tremendous cooperation" was key.
“Multiple police officers dedicated their personal time to come to our center several times across weeks and months to allow us to determine whether or not the virtual reality intervention would truly help autistic people feel and perform better during live police interactions,” McCleery said in a news release. “Their efforts helped us document the real-world impact of the intervention for autistic teens and adults.”
More information
Autism Speaks has more about interacting with law enforcement.
SOURCES: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, news release, May 5, 2026; Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, May 5, 2026
