Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Does Teaching Theory of Mind Have an Effect on the Ability to Develop Conversation in Children with Autism?

  • Published:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present research examined whether teaching children with autism to pass tasks that assess mental state understanding had any positive effects on communication. Two aspects of communication previously shown to be deficient in children with autism were considered. These are conversational ability, in particular the ability to expand on conversation, and the use of mental state terms in speech. Results showed that no discernible improvement was seen on either measure of communication following mental state teaching. Discussion centers on real versus superficial changes in understanding mental states as a result of teaching.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Aarons, M, & Gitten, T. (1992). The handbook of autism. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of menal disorders (3rd ed., Rev.). Washington DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.) Washington, DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Astington, J. W., & Jenkins, J. M. (1995). Theory of mind and social understanding. Cognition and Emotion, 9, 151–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baltaxe, C. A. M. (1977). Pragmatic deficits in the language of autistic adolescents. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 2, 176–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S. (1988). Social and pragmatic deficits in autism: cognitive or affective? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 18, 379–401.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S. (1991). Precursors to a theory of mind. Attention in others. In A. Whiten (Ed.), Natural theories of mind. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S. (1995). Mindblindness. London: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind?” Cognition, 21, 37–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1986). Mechanical, behavioral and intentional understanding of picture stories in autistic children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 4, 113–125.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Tager-Flusberg, H., & Cohen, D. J. (Eds.). (1993). Understanding other minds. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bates, E., Camioni, L., & Volterra, V. (1975). The acquisition of performatives prior to speech. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 21, 205–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernard-Opitz, V. (1989). Pragmatic analysis of the communicative behavior of an autistic child. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 47, 99–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, D. V. M. (1989). Test for reception of grammar (2nd ed.). Available from the author, MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge, U.K.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bretherton, I., & Beeghly, M. (1982). Talking about internal states: The acquisition of an explicit theory of mind. Developmental Psychology, 18, 906–921.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christie, J. F. (1986). Training of symbolic play. In P. K. Smith (Ed.). Children's play. Research, developments and practical implications. London: Gordon and Beach.

    Google Scholar 

  • Curcio, F., & Paccia, J. (1987). Conversations with autistic children: contingent relationships between features of adult input and children's response adequacy. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 17, 81–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenmajer, R., & Prior, M. (1991). Cognitive linguistic correlates of ‘theory of mind’ ability in autistic children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9, 351–364.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleiss, J. L. (1981). Statistical methods for rates and propositions. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U. (1989a). A new look at language and communication in autism. British Journal of Disorders of Communication, 24, 123–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U. (1989b). Autism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U., Happé, F., & Siddons, F. (1994). Autism and theory of mind in everyday life. Social Development, 3, 108–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U., Morton, J., & Leslie, A. M. (1991). The cognitive basis of a biological disorder: autism. Trends in Neuroscience, 14, 433–438.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, M. (1979). Expressive one word picture vocabulary test. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gopnik, A., Slaughter, V., & Meltzoff, A. (1994). Changing your views: How understanding visual perception can lead to a new theory of mind. In C. Lewis & P. Mitchell (Eds.), Origins of a theory of mind. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grice, H. P. (1957). Meaning. Philosophical Review, 66, 377–388.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hadwin, J. A., Baron-Cohen, S., Howlin, P., & Hill, K. (1996). Can we teach children with autism to understand emotions, belief or pretence? Development and Psychopathology, 8(2) 345–365.

    Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F. G. E. (1991). The autobiographical writings of three Asperger syndrome adults: problems of interpretation and implications for theory. In U. Frith (Ed.), Autism and Asperger syndrome. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F. G. E. (1993). Communicative competence and theory of mind in autism: A test of relevance theory. Cognition, 48, 101–119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F. G. E. (1994). An advanced test of theory of mind: Understanding of story character's thoughts and feelings by able autistic, mentally handicapped and normal children and adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24, 129–154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howlin, P. (1996). Assessment of a screening tool: Agreement between diagnosis, identification on the ADI and the screening questionnaire. Unpublished manuscript, St. George's Hospital Medical School, University of London.

  • Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact. Nervous Child, 2, 217–250.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolko, D. J. (1984). Parents as behavior therapists for their autistic children. In E. Schopler & G. B. Mesibov (Eds.), The effects of autism on the family. New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozloff, M. A. (1984). A training program for families of children with autism: Responding to family needs. in E. Schopler & G. B. Mesibov (Eds.), The effects of autism on the family. New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leslie, A. M. (1987). Pretence and representation in infancy: The origins of a “theory of mind.”Psychological Review, 94, 84–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leslie, A. M., & Happé, F. (1989). Autism and ostensive communication. Development and Psychopathology, 1, 205–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loveland, K., & Tunali, B. (1993). Narrative language in autism and the theory of mind hypothesis: a wider perspective. In S. Baron-Cohen, H. Tager-Flusberg, & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Understanding other minds. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messer, D. J. (1994). The development of communication. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, C., & Davidge, J. (1989). The developmental of mental terms: pragmatics or semantics? Journal of child Language, 16, 633–641.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, D., & Torrance, N. (1987). Language, literacy and mental states. Discourse Processes, 10, 157–167.

    Google Scholar 

  • Omerod, J. (1988). Moonlight. Harmondsworth: Picture Puffins Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ortony, A., Clore, G. L, & Collins, A. (1988). The cognitive structure of emotions. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ozonoff, S., & Miller, J. N. (1995). Teaching theory of mind: A new approach to social skills training for individuals with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 25, 415–433.

    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, 689–700.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prior, M., Dahlstromm, B., & Squires, T. (1990). Autistic children's knowledge of thinking and feeling states in other people. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 31, 587–601.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prizant, B. M., & Wetherby, A. M. (1989). Enhancing language and communication in autism. In G. Dawson (Ed.), Autism, nature, diagnosis and treatment. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricks, D. M., & Wing, L. (1975). Language, communication and the use of symbols in normal and autistic children. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 5, 191–221.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. R. (1978). diagnosis and definition. In M. Rutter & E. Schopler (Eds.), Autism: A reappraisal of concepts and treatment. New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M., Lord, C., & Le Couteur, A. (1990). Autistic Diagnostic Interview. London: MRC Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. R., & Schopler, E. (1987). Autism and pervasive developmental disorders: Concepts and diagnostic issues. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 17, 159–186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shatz, M., Wellman, H. M., & Silber, S. (1983). The acquisition of mental verbs: A systematic investigation of first references to mental state. Cognition, 14, 301–321.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smiley, P., & Huttenlocher, J. (1989). Young children's acquisition of emotion. In C. Saarni & P. Harris (Eds.), Children's understanding of emotion. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (1986). Relevance. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starr, E. (1993). Teaching the appearance-reality distinction to children with autism. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Developmental Psychology Section Annual Conference, Birmingham.

  • Stokes, T. F, & Baer, D. M. (1977). An implicit technology of generalization. Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis, 10, 349–367.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swettenham, J. S. (1996). Can children with autism be taught to understand false belief using computers? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 37, 157–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tager-Flusberg, H. (1981). On the nature of linguistic functioning in early infantile autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 11, 45–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tager-Flusberg, H. (1989). A psycholinguistic perspective on language development in the autistic child. In G. Dawson (Ed.), Autism, nature, diagnosis and treatment. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tager-Flusberg, H. (1992). Autistic children's talk about psychological states: Deficits in the early acquisition of a theory of mind. Child Development, 63, 161–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tager-Flusberg, H. (1993). What language reveals about the understanding of mind in children with autism. In S. Baron-Cohen, H. Tager-flusberg, & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Understanding other minds. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tager-Flusberg, H., & Anderson, M. (1991). The development of contingent discourse ability in autistic children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 1123–1134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tager-Flusberg, H., Calkins, S., Nolin, T., Baumberger, M. A., & Chadwick-Dias, A. (1990). A longitudinal study of language acquisition in autistic and Down syndrome children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 20, 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wellman, H. M., & Estes, D. (1987). Children's early use of mental terms and what they mean. Discourse Processes, 10, 141–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wetherby, A. M., & Prutting, C. A. (1984). Profiles of communicative and cognitive-social abilities in autistic children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 27, 364–377.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7BR

    Julie Hadwin

  2. University of Cambridge, UK

    Simon Baron-Cohen & Katie Hill

  3. St. George's Medical School, University of London, UK

    Patricia Howlin

Authors
  1. Julie Hadwin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Simon Baron-Cohen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Patricia Howlin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Katie Hill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hadwin, J., Baron-Cohen, S., Howlin, P. et al. Does Teaching Theory of Mind Have an Effect on the Ability to Develop Conversation in Children with Autism?. J Autism Dev Disord 27, 519–537 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025826009731

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025826009731

Keywords

Search

Navigation