people with ASD struggle to understand the world from the perspective of others
People with ASD have a weak TOM,mindblindness
having a strong TOM starts at early development
having a strong TOM comes from following someones gaze or playing a pretend game
A key skill to developing a strong TOM is to establish joint attention,during social interaction with an adult,they will direct the childs focus to an object by pointing,the child need to understand the adults intentions to be successful.
Joint attention allows early recognition that other people have different thoughts and goals
Scaife and Bruner
developing children usually can recognise others thoughts and goals by 14 months but those with ASD these skills may be delayed
Explains social problems in those with ASD
Mental versus physical
listening to a story where one character is having a mental experience(thinking about a dog) and another character has a physical experience(holding a dog)
Wellman and Estes
3-4 years olds could easily answer these questions but children with ASD have been found to have to have made impaired at making judgements
Baron-Cohen
story involving 2 characters,one is holding a glass of pop(physical),other is thinking about a glass(mental)
Findings were identical for both scenarios
Appearances versus reality
most children at 4 can understand that things might not be exactly what they look like
Sally Anne test
3 groups of kids,ASD,Down syndrome and neuro-typical children
Sally puts a marble in her basket,then Anne moves the marble to her box while Sally is away.The child is then asked where Sally thinks the marble is.
Results of Sally Anne test
85% of neurotypical children got the answer right
86% of down syndrome
20% ASD
Evident that children with ASD struggle with TOM,not due to IQ as down syndrome kids have a lower IQ
