Abagail Hennessy, Master Student (Trainee)
Applied Psychology, Education Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
Abagail Hennessy, B.A., is a first year M.A. student in the School and Applied Child Psychology program in the faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario. Abagail has a keen interest in supporting children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) through her research. She received her B.A. in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Western Ontario, where she was awarded the University of Western Ontario Gold Medal Award (2021) for her academic achievement in her program. As an undergraduate student, Abagail worked under Dr. Emma Duerden in the Developing Brain Lab at Western to develop her thesis on amygdala maturation in children with autism spectrum disorder and anxiety. Abagail continues to work in the Developing Brain Lab during her graduate studies. Under Dr. Duerden’s supervision, Abagail is conducting her Masters thesis on developing auditory and visual instructions for an online screener of cognitive impairments in children with NDDs. The goal of this research is to increase accessibility to cognitive evaluations for children and families, in order to help identify at-risk children with NDDs. Outside of her classes, Abagail enjoys working with children and currently volunteers for the Learning Disabilities Association of London (ON).
