# Enhancing Social Skills in Autism Students with Augmented-Reality Picturebooks
## 1 Introduction  
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a diverse group of conditions that are primarily characterized by some degree of difficulty with social interaction and communication [1]. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) also defines ASD as a persistent impairment of social communication and social interaction in multiple situations plus at least two types of restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities [2]. Moreover, there are differences in general functional levels between ASD groups. Some people have better language expression skills, while others may have language expression difficulties, social interaction difficulties, and repeated stereotyped behaviors [3]. It can be observed that difficulties with social communication are important indicators of ASD. [PERSON] (2009) also pointed out that, for ASD students, social interaction deficits prevent them from using effective communication skills to understand and respond to others, which affects the development of self-esteem and self-confidence [4]. Many studies have also found that students with ASD are mostly placed in regular classes, but due to communication difficulties, poor social interaction skills, and considerable difficulties in school adaptation, social skills have become an important target for ASD intervention in educational settings [5]. The acquisition of social skills is an important task for students with ASD [6; 7; 8]. Augmented reality (AR) in conjunction with constructivist learning theory can help users directly find contextually relevant information by visualizing virtual situations through displays [9; 10; 11]. That is to say, AR allows for students to interact with virtual objects in a combination of virtual and real environments. Students who do not know how to use computers can quickly become familiar with it and help them focus on the course. The advantages of AR in teaching include novel learning for students, strong interaction between students and teaching materials, the ability to turn abstract concepts into concrete concepts, and improvement in the ability to understand space [12; 13]. Because of limited cognitive development, low motivation to learn, and deficits in attention and memory, students with special educational needs require specialized teaching strategies to facilitate learning and skill acquisition [14]. In addition to assisting special-education students in independent learning, AR can also enhance their learning motivation and interest. Most of the special-education students' categories for AR applications are ASD, intellectual disabilities, and learning disabilities [15; 16]. Areas of AR application include life skills, social skills, learning skills, and physical skills; the findings showed that AR was most effective in promoting learning skills, followed by social skills, physical skills, and life skills [17]. Researchers observed at the teaching site that students with ASD often cause many misunderstandings because of their poor ability to generalize and lack the ability to detect words and emotions in complex situations, especially when returning to ordinary classes or encountering unexpected situations, highlighting the difficulty in generalizing across contexts of social skills. Secondly, researchers had also found that the social skills difficulties of students with ASD in school situations mostly belong to the two aspects of \"friendship skills\" and \"conflict management\" in interpersonal interaction. Therefore, improving the interpersonal interaction skills of students with ASD through effective teaching strategies was one of the motivations of this study. In the past, interpersonal interaction teaching interventions for students with ASD included picturebooks, board games, computer multimedia, social stories, and role-playing, and it was found that role-playing, social story, self-management strategies, and other courses may be monotonous for students with ASD and made participation low-interest [18; 19].