The mind behind the message: advancing theory-of-mind scales for typically developing children, and those with deafness, autism, or Asperger syndrome.
Children aged 3-12 years (n = 184) with typical development, deafness, autism, or Asperger syndrome took a series of theory-of-mind (ToM) tasks to confirm and extend previous developmental scaling evidence. A new sarcasm task, in the format of H. M. Wellman and D. Liu's (2004) 5-step ToM Scale, added a statistically reliable 6th step to the scale for all diagnostic groups. A key previous finding, divergence in task sequencing for children with autism, was confirmed. Comparisons among diagnostic groups, controlling age, and language ability, showed that typical developers mastered the 6 ToM steps ahead of each of the 3 disabled groups, with implications for ToM theories. The final (sarcasm) task challenged even nondisabled 9-year-olds, demonstrating the new scale's sensitivity to post-preschool ToM growth.
The School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. candi@psy.uq.edu.au
Candida C
CC
Peterson
Henry M
HM
Wellman
Virginia
V
Slaughter
D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D032882:Comprehension; D003638:Deafness / Q000523:psychology*; D056348:Emotional Intelligence; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012016:Reference Values; D012813:Sign Language; D012938:Social Perception; D056345:Theory of Mind