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We present several examples of the use of new technologies developed for various applications intended for children, in particular applications used to support research on children and for the development of therapies. These new technologies may involve virtual humans or humanoid robots, virtual environments, or serious games. We also address the difficulties of evaluating such applications. In this article we focus on a specific technology, the animated conversational agent. We introduce a computer system with such an agent embedded in it, along with several applications that make use of the agent. We highlight how the parameterization offered by these virtual agent platforms allows for various levels of control and allows the studying of specific phenomena.