title: Theory of mind and irony comprehension in children with cerebral palsy.
abstract: The main goal of the present study was to characterise the pragmatic abilities of French children with cerebral palsy through their understanding of irony and other people's mental states. We predicted that children with cerebral palsy would have difficulty understanding false-belief and ironic remarks, due to the executive dysfunction that accompanies the motor disorders of cerebral palsy. We conducted an experiment in which children with cerebral palsy and typically developing matched controls performed theory-of-mind and executive function tasks. They then listened to ironic stories and answered questions about the speakers' beliefs and attitudes. The groups differed significantly on second-order theory of mind, irony comprehension and working memory, indicating pragmatic difficulties in children with cerebral palsy.
authors.affiliation: Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, C2S, EA 6291, 57 rue Pierre Taittinger, 51096 Reims Cedex, France. stephanie.caillies@univ-reims.fr
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caillies
authors.forename: Anaïs
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hody
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calmus
mesh_terms: D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D032882:Comprehension; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D002666:Psychology, Child; D056345:Theory of Mind