Megan Critchlow - Psychology
decreasing aggression and noncompliance in autistic children. 3 autistic children’s mother’s
collected data on their child’s behaviour and rated their own parenting before the study.
Fathers additionally collected data for 5-10 hours each week and a comparison between the
parent’s observations was made to increase the study’s reliability. The mothers were then
trained for 12 weeks, implementing the mindfulness skills they were learning upon their
children. After training they continued the mindfulness practice for 52 weeks. Over this
period there was a significant decrease in the children’s negative behaviours. For example
participant 1’s aggressive behaviours decreased by 88% from training to practice and
noncompliance behaviours per week showed a 68% decrease. This decrease in aggression
demonstrates an increase in the understanding that aggression may hurt another’s feelings,
which resultantly demonstrates a development of the Theory of Mind. Due to being a field
experiment the ecological validity is high. This study successfully shows the effectiveness of
mindfulness, however there is no indication for the studies I have evaluated previously being
less effective. Therefore from the studies I have looked at it, it appears that there are multiple
ways of improving a child’s Theory of Mind.
Evaluation of all the training methods
From the evidence of each training method the transporters DVD appears to be the most
successful. The autistic participants who had watched 3 episodes of the DVD per day over 4
weeks improved their emotional vocabulary and ability to match socio-emotional situations
to the appropriate facial expression to the same level or a more advanced level as the normal
children. However due to being a lab experiment participants may have become used to
interpreting expressions on screens as apposed to real life, so the validity of the study could
be questioned. Additionally this type of training does not cover all areas of a Theory of Mind
such as interpreting another’s behaviour and reacting appropriately, but only approaches the
emotional recognition and application side of a Theory of Mind. Therefore mindful parenting
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