Megan Critchlow - Psychology
than social stories. These four methods portray a Theory of Mind can be developed, however
they do not always benefit every child which brings me to the unanswered questions; why do
some autistic children benefit from training whilst others do not? Is it dependant on how
severely autistic they are? The effectiveness of mindful parenting demonstrates that the
attitudes of the people around you may be the reason that some children benefit from training
whilst others do not.
The overall conclusion I have came to as to whether a particular intervention is most effective
or whether a mixture would benefit an autistic child most, is that synthesising interventions
would benefit an autistic child in the largest range of areas of a Theory of Mind. This is
demonstrated by Golen et al (2009) study on the thought-bubble training method, which
shows an increase in effectiveness for children taking part in other interventions along with
the thought-bubble method.
These interventions all appear to have benefits in the real life situations. They enable autistic
children to become less aggressive and increasingly pro-social, allowing them to feel less
bewildered by other people’s behaviours. Although autistic children may not be able to
generate the ability to predict what others may be feeling, methods such as the thought-
bubble method allows them to use an alternative route to understanding the same concept.
Overall, despite the unanswered questions, I believe that autistic children can be helped to
develop their Theory of Mind through the right amount of encouragement, training and
persistence. Interventions are continuously being invented and although it is not
instantaneous, there is an improvement to the majority of autistic children’s Theory of Minds
due to these interventions. This indicates that although it may not be possible to cure their
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