Northwestern University is developing a program using ‘virtual peers’ to help autistic children communicate with children in the real world.

The program, part of the school’s Articulab school, aims to use these virtual children as models for real life children. In an early session, it was discovered that autistic children aged 7 to 11 interacted slightly better with the virtual peer, called Sam, than with RL children.

“Certainly we’re not saying that virtual peers make the best playmates for children with autism,” said Andrea Tartaro, a study researcher. “The overall goal is for the children with autism to generalize the skills they learn in practice sessions with virtual peers to meaningful interactions with real-world children.”