Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-24hb2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-19T09:41:11.877Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The social context of developments in theory of mind and communicative competence: Evidence from mother-child conversations with children with autism, Asperger syndrome, specific language impairment, and normal development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

Kathryn Ziatas*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, The University of Western Australia
Kevin Durkin
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, The University of Western Australia
Chris Pratt
Affiliation:
School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University
*
Department of Psychology, University of Western Australia, NEDLANDS WA 6907, Fax: (08) 9380 1006, E-mail: kathy@psy.uwa.edu.au
Get access

Abstract

The relationship of maternal conversational input to theory of mind development was examined in a study of mother-child conversation involving children with autism, Asperger syndrome, specific language impairment (SLI), and normol development. Speech act analysis using Dore's (1986) categories was completed for conversation samples taken between mother and child during a toy selection task Comparisons of moternal assertions revealed lower proportions of reference to internal stote used with children with autism, Asperger syndrome, and SLI compared to those with normol children. Significant positive associations existed between the children's production of mental assertions and maternal descriptions, explanations, evaluations, attributions of another's internal state, organizational devices, clarifications, and requests for process. There were also significant positive associations between children's theory of mind development and moternal descriptions, explanations, clarifications, acknowledgments, rhetorical questions, and responses to process questions.These results indicate the importance of an elaborative style of maternal conversation to the development of theory of mind.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington DC: APA.Google Scholar
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A., & Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind?” Cognition, 21, 3746.Google Scholar
Bartsch, K., & Wellman, H. (1995). Children’s talk about the mind. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Beeghly, M., Bretherton, I., & Mervis, C. (1986). Mothers’ internal state language to toddlers: The socialization of psychological understanding. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 4, 247260.Google Scholar
Bishop, D. (1989). Test of Reception of Grammar (2nd. ed.). Age and Cognitive Performance Research Centre, University of Manchester, Ml3 9PL: Author.Google Scholar
Bishop, D.V.M., Chan, J., Adams, C., Hartley, J., & Weir, F. (in press). Conversational responsiveness in specific language impairment: Evidence of disproportionate pragmatic difficulties in a subset of children. Development and Psychopathology.Google Scholar
Bowler, D.M. (1992). “Theory of Mind” in Asperger’s syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33, 877893.Google Scholar
Brinton, B., & Fujiki, M. (1993). Language, social skills and socio-emotional behavior. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 24, 194198.Google Scholar
Brown, J.R., & Dunn, J. (1991). “You can cry mum”: The social and developmental implications of talk about internal states. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9, 237256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruner, J., & Feldman, C. (1993). Theories of mind and the problem of autism. In Baron-Cohen, S.Tager-Flusberg, H. & Cohen, J. (Eds.), Understanding other minds: Perspectives from autism (pp. 267291). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Craig, H., & Evans, J. (1993). Pragmatics and SLI: Within group variations in discourse behavior. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 36, 779789.Google Scholar
Craig, H., & Washington, J.A. (1993). The access behaviors of children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 36, 322337.Google Scholar
Dahlgren, S.O., & Trillingsgaard, A. (1996). Theory of mind in non-retarded children with autism and Asperger’s syndrome. A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 37, 759763.Google Scholar
Dore, J. (1986). The development of conversational competence. In Scheifelbusch, R. (Ed.), Language competence: Assessment and intervention (pp. 360). San Diego: College-Hill Press.Google Scholar
Dunn, J., Brown, J.R., & Beardsall, L. (1991). Family talk about feeling states and children’s later understanding of others' emotions. Developmental Psychology, 27, 448455.Google Scholar
Dunn, L., & Dunn, P. (1981). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – Revised. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Services.Google Scholar
Fletcher, P.A., Happe, F., Frith, U., Baker, S., Dolan, R., Frakowiak, R.S.J., & Frith, C.D. (1995). Other minds in the brain: A functional imaging study of the theory of mind in story comprehension. Cognition, 57, 109128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fujiki, M., Brinton, B., & Todd, C. (1996). Social skills of children with specific language impairment. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 27, 195202.Google Scholar
Furrow, D., Moore, C., Davidge, J., & Chiasson, L. (1992). Mental terms in mothers’ and children’s speech: Similarities and relationships. Journal of Child Language, 19, 617631.Google Scholar
Ghaziuddin, M., & Gerstein, L. (1996). Pedantic speaking style differentiates Asperger syndrome from high functioning autism. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 26, 585595.Google Scholar
Gillberg, C. (1989). Asperger syndrome in 23 Swedish children. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 31, 520531.Google Scholar
Haden, C., & Fivush, R. (1996). Contextual variation in maternal conversational styles. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 42, 200227.Google Scholar
Happe, F.G.E. (1995). The role of age and verbal ability in the theory of mind task performance of subjects with autism. Child Development, 66, 843855.Google Scholar
Hetch, B.F., Levine, H.G., & Mastergeorge, A.B. (1993). Conversational roles of children with developmental delays and their mothers in natural and semi-structured situations. American Journal of Mental Retardation, 97, 419429.Google Scholar
Howell, D.C. (1995). Fundamental statistics for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Duxbury Press.Google Scholar
Lapadat, J.C. (1991). Pragmatic language skills of students with language and/or learning disabilities: A quantitative synthesis. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 24, 147158.Google Scholar
Lillard, A. (1998). Ethnopsychologies: Cultural variations in theories of mind. Psychological Bulletin, 123, 332.Google Scholar
Leslie, A.M. (1987). Pretence and representation: The origins of “theory of mind.” Psychological Review, 94, 412426.Google Scholar
Leslie, A.M., & Frith, U. (1988). Autistic children’s understanding of seeing, knowing and believing. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 6, 315324.Google Scholar
Moore, C., Furrow, D., Chiasson, L., & Patriquin, M. (1994). Developmental relationships between production and comprehension of mental terms. First Language, 14, 117.Google Scholar
Ozonoff, S., Pennington, B.F., & Rogers, S.J. (1991). Executive functioning deficits in high functioning autistic individuals: Relationship to theory of mind. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 10811105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pan, B.A., Imbens-Bailey, A.L., Winner, K., & Snow, C.E. (1996). Communicative intents expressed by parents in interaction with young children. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 42, 248266.Google Scholar
Perner, J., Frith, U., Leslie, A.M., & Leekam, S.R. (1989). Exploration of the autistic child’s theory of mind: Knowledge, belief and communication. Child Development, 60, 689700.Google Scholar
Peterson, C., & Siegal, M. (1998). Changing focus on the representational mind: Deaf, autistic and normal children’s concepts of false photos, false drawings and false beliefs. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 16, 301320.Google Scholar
Peterson, C., & Siegal, M. (1997). Domain specificity and everyday biological, physical, and psychological thinking in normal, autistic and deaf children. In Wellman, H. & Inagaki, R. (Eds.), The emergence of core deficits of thought: Children’s reasoning about physical, psychological and biological phenomena. New directions for child development series, No. 75. (pp. 5570). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Peterson, C.C., & Siegal, M. (1995). Deafness, conversation and theory of mind. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36, 249263.Google Scholar
Ramberg, C., Ehlers, S., Nyden, A., & Johansson, M. (1996). Language and pragmatic functions in school-aged children on the autistic spectrum. European Journal of Disorders of Communication, 31, 387413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rollins, P., Pan, B., Conti-Ramsden, G., & Snow, C. (1994). Communicative skills in children with specific language impairments: A comparison with their language matched siblings. Journal of Communication Disorders, 27, 189206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Russell, P., Jarrold, C., & Henry, L. (1996). Working memory in children with autism and with moderate learning difficulties. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 37, 673686.Google Scholar
Szatmari, P., Bartoloucci, G., & Brenner, R. (1989). Asperger’s syndrome and autism: Comparisons on early history and outcome. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 31, 709720.Google Scholar
Welch-Ross, M.K. (1997). Mother-child participation in conversation about the past: Relationship to preschooler’s theory of mind. Developmental Psychology, 33, 618629.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wellman, H.M., & Woolley, J.D. (1990). From simple desires to ordinary beliefs: The early development of everyday psychology. Cognition, 35, 245275.Google Scholar
Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children’s understanding of deception. Cognition, 13, 103128.Google Scholar
Yirimaya, N., Erel, O., Shaked, M., & Solomonica-Levi, D. (1998). Metaanalyses comparing theory of mind in individuals with autism, individuals with mental retardation and normally developing individuals. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 283307.Google Scholar