Megan Critchlow - Psychology
Megan Critchlow - Psychology
My Extended Essay gave me an opportunity to research an area of a
chosen topic not necessarily explored within school. My main interest
was psychology, yet I knew little about autism − an incurable mental
condition that affects thousands of people around the world. I was equally
interested in empathy, a factor I discovered autistic children struggled
with. I decided to base my Extended Essay around the theory of mind
of an autistic child, the natural interpretation of social behaviour. It gave
me a chance to explore Autism to a greater depth than I would have in
any lesson. Having to choose the appropriate information from multiple
books, sites and people leads to your extended essay only being the start
of the information you obtain within the process.
A key challenge within the writing of the essay was contacting and not
receiving replies from the necessary people to enhance and understand
the topics I was covering further. However the responses I did receive
were worth the effort. Although many people wonder how they are going
to fill up 4000 words upon a chosen topic, my friends and I found issues
with condensing our essays into fewer than 4000 words. Although there
were many challenges in coming up with a suitable question for my
Extended Essay, the satisfaction of completing it was worth all the hours
put in.
Supervisor: Ian Campbell
What appealed to me about this essay were the clear applications in the
real world offering hope to many struggling families with autism.
Megan was passionate and fascinated by the topic and was determined
to focus not only on these practical applications but to link therapy
closely with a contemporary understanding of the ‘theory of mind’.
She soon became aware that investigating the causes of autism was
not going to get her very far as so little is still known, so she chose to
focus on the known symptoms rather than causes as the basis for her
exploration into applied therapies. She also became realistic about the
limitations of therapy but remained upbeat and positive throughout
the process. The final essay was clearly structured and thoroughly
researched and a real testament to her abilities.
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