Virtual reality-based adjunctive therapy interventions for neurodiverse students
“If this is what my therapy was like, I wouldn’t complain so much. In fact, I’d want more therapy!”
Real Therapy - Real Fun
For K12 Success
Vizmoo believes serious therapy can be seriously fun
An innovative, play-based VR intervention for building core social skills and emotional regulation.
Supported by IES / US Dept. of Education
US, EU, CA Patent Pending
We’re building Mirror Me, an innovative tool for virtual reality-assisted adjunctive therapy interventions for neurodiverse children in school and private practice who need support with social-emotional skills. Mirror Me integrates dance, music, and visuals through innovative, play-based experiences to guide clients to build core mirroring and skills, and tolerance with sustained social interaction. This supports sustained emotional regulation and better attunement during social interaction, leading to improved engagement, which in turn supports daily life skills and educational outcomes.
Children want therapies that keep them engaged and connected while they do targeted, highly repetitive interventions — so they enjoy their therapy journey and come back for more sessions.
“Vizmoo equips our students to regulate emotions and improve processing and gross motor skills. It brings their outside interests into the school which is fun and engaging. They want to keep coming back.”
Mirror Me engages children in therapy
“There are so many things that kids would do with this that they wouldn’t do in clinical settings. It’s more motivating and reinforcing than typical therapy approaches.”
As a teacher or therapist, we know your workload continues to worsen. Our conversations with SPED practitioners confirm that some of you manage heavy caseloads, sometimes as high as 3-4X what you signed up for (sometimes 70-100 students per therapist). Also, over 33% of school districts face a considerable SPED shortage and high staff turnover – which means students don’t receive sufficient services.
Mirror Me offers:
Gamified therapy that supports regulation and mirroring skills for social engagement.
Ability to provide services to Individuals or Groups of students at the same time.
Aide-led interventions: OTs can set up tailored individual plans for each student while aides monitor students during their sessions. This frees up OT time for other tasks.
Continuum of Care from school to home and back. Students can use Mirror Me with minimal or no help from parents.
In-person and Telehealth capabilities for students who live far from school or from services.
Meet the Team
Michael Stauffer
Founder & CEO
Michael oversees Vizmoo’s mission and the creative vision for products like Mirror Me. He is a long-time software developer with experience in technical projects, such as medical imaging, neural modeling, and music visualization. Mirror Me combines Michael’s passions as a musician, dancer, and all-around geek. He works, makes music, plays, and creates in Philadelphia, PA.
Karen Dehaven
Co-Inventor & Clinical Advisor
Karen in a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Board-Certified Dance/Movement Therapist. She focuses on children and families who struggle with neurodevelopmental delays like Autism, ADHD, Asperger’s, Social Communication Disorder, and sensory integration. Karen’s advanced specialty of Counseling in Dance/Movement Therapy allows her to integrate traditional and creative therapy techniques.
Mark McAnallen, MBA
Sales & Customer Experience
Mark is an entrepreneurial sales leader and customer advocate who solves challenges by bringing innovative technical solutions to market. He became interested in edtech and joined Vizmoo after fostering a student with autism during COVID-19 lockdown. Mark enjoys meeting students to understand their needs and SPED teachers and therapists to learn how Vizmoo can augment their services programs. You can find Mark traveling around the world for good food and adventure when he’s not wearing his Vizmoo hat.
John Weathers, PhD
Research & Development
Dr. Weathers has over 20 years of experience as a researcher, innovator, and educator in K-20 settings. He has ensured academic and commercial viability as an edtech co-founder, advisory board member for growth companies, professor of educational leadership and policy, and research on implementation and evaluation of edtech and SPED projects. He has led large, funded research and development projects, and his research has been published widely in journals like Educational Policy Analysis Archives and Journal of Disability Policy Studies.
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Sponsors and Affiliations
U.S. Department of Education
National Science Foundation
Mastery Charter Schools