DOES TEACHING THEORY OF MIND HAVE AN EFFECT ON THE ABILITY TO DEVELOPCONVERSATION IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

The present research examined whether teaching children with autism to pass tasks that assess mental state understanding had any positive ef fects on communication. Two aspects of communication previously shown to be deficient in children with autism were considered. These are con versational ability, in particular the ability to expand on conversati on, and the use of mental state terms in speech. Results showed that n o discernible improvement was seen on either measure of communication following mental state teaching. Discussion centers on real versts sup erficial changes in understanding mental stares as a result of teachin g.