[Assessment of self-representation abilities in seven-, eight-year-old children].
BACKGROUND
Theory of Mind.


OBJECTIVE
the purpose of this study was to assess the self-representation abilities in 7-8 year old children and to verify the relationship between the Theory of Mind and language.


METHODS
subjects of this study were 100 children - 50 boys and 50 girls - with ages between 7:2 and 8:11, divided in four groups: 7-year-old children with no communication deficits (Group 1), with 37 subjects; 7-year-old children with phonological retard (Group 2), with 13 subjects; 8-year-old children with no communication deficits (Group 3), with 46 subjects; and 8- year- old children with phonological retard (Group 4), with 4 subjects. All of the subjects were students of a municipal school in the city of São Paulo and were submitted to speech, language and hearing tests prior to the assessment of the self-representation abilities. The assessment of the self-representation abilities is composed by four tests proposed by Fernandes (2002) and adapted by Mecca (2005).


RESULTS
88% of the 7-year-old subjects passed the self-representation abilities test; 92% of the 8-year-old subjects also passed the same test. No statistically significant differences were found between gender, age or group.


CONCLUSIONS
generally, children around 7 years have already acquired the Theory of Mind, however this acquisition can take longer and occur at other ages. The type of interaction and the presence of abstract elements during conversation can have an influence on the children's performance in tasks involving the theory of mind.
Carvalho
Luciana Regina de Lima
LR
Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo. lurelica@gmail.com
Mecca
Fabiola Ferrer del Nero
FF
Lichtig
Ida
I
D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003147:Communication Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006320:Hearing Tests; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D011582:Psychological Theory; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology