Virtual OV is designed to prepare people with autism, a mild intellectual disability or other psychosocial challenges to travel independently by public transport. With realistic scenarios and guided training, participants build confidence and develop essential skills.
We increase mobility, promote social inclusion and strengthen executive functions. The result? Independence, quality of life and economic opportunities. Discover how Virtual OV changes lives and increases independence.
Discover how Virtual OV changes lives
Virtual OV is not just about learning travel skills; it's about empowering people, increasing their self-confidence and creating opportunities for more independence. We prepare participants for real-world travel so they can live lives with greater mobility, freedom and self-confidence.
Discover how Virtual OV can support your organization in achieving these impact goals.
Contact us today and let us help increase the independence of the target group.
Impact
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Increase in Self-Confidence
One of the main goals of Virtual OV is to increase the self-confidence of participants. How do we do that? Virtual OV simulates everyday travel situations, and participants experience these safely with VR glasses. This means they can practice and become familiar with public transport before taking the step into the real world. The result? A greater sense of self-confidence when traveling. -
Strengthening Executive Functions
Traveling by public transport requires more than just following routes. It requires mastering executive functions such as planning, problem solving and maintaining attention. Virtual OV contributes to the development of these essential cognitive skills, making participants better prepared to travel successfully. -
Promoting Social Inclusion
Another important goal is to promote social inclusion. Virtual OV prepares participants for social interactions on public transport, giving them more confidence in interacting with fellow passengers and staff. This opens the door to greater social inclusion and participation in society. -
Stress Reduction and Anxiety Management
New situations can cause anxiety and stress. Virtual OV offers a safe environment in which participants can get used to the challenges of public transport. This makes them feel more comfortable when they actually take the step to travel.
- In various scenarios you will learn step by step the necessary actions to travel by public transport, such as loading an public transport card or checking in and out at gates.
- By experiencing traveling by public transport in a safe environment, the confidence grows to use it independently in practice.
- To be able to travel, you need executive functions such as maintaining attention and planning. Playing Virtual OV contributes to the development of these skills
- You learn to deal with unexpected situations that occur on public transport. This includes delays or cancellations of trains and buses. Social-emotional challenges also occur in the game.
From idealism to reality!
The idea of the game originated from idealism and was developed by experts in the field of education and technology. Joke de Haan, teacher in special education and behavioral specialist, is the initiator of this project and closely involved in its development. In addition, prominent public transport companies in the Netherlands have actively contributed to the development of the game.
Our plug & play solution only requires the glasses and the accompanying game. We also offer an on-site training program, where we teach the supervisors how to independently guide participants according to the train-the-trainer principle.
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