Theory of Mind

Development in Deaf
Children
Phoebe Tay

Overall Topic
Lack of accessibility in sign language at home and at
school contributed to delay in Theory of Mind (ToM)
development in Deaf students.
*Theory of Mind development refers to the ability to
explain ones own mental states beliefs, assumptions,
intents, desires and knowledge, as well as the ability to
understand the ToM of others and that they have
differences in their mental states (Park, 2001).

Article 1 Tomasuolo, et al., 2012

Need: Deaf children often have a delay in ToM development.

Why?

Methodology: Three groups of Italian participants (6-14 years)

two groups of deaf signing children (bilingual program and
mainstream school with TA) and one group of hearing
children were given language assessment and mentalizing
skills assessment tasks to measure their ToM performance.
Strengths: considered many factors that could impact on
childrens ToM development by presenting a balanced
view.
Weakness: cultural backgrounds of families not addressed

Conclusion: Full access to sign language in a bilingual school

setting contributes to advanced ToM development.

Article 2 Meristo & Hjelmquist, 2009

Need: Does the level of executive functioning (EF) skills influence

the level of ToM development?

Methodology: Four groups of deaf children (7-16 years)

bilingually instructed native signers, oralist-instructed native
signers, two groups of bilingually instructed late signers from
Sweden and Estonia were given eight ToM and four EF measures.
Strength: All deaf children, regardless of their language
background, performed at a high level on all EF tasks that
were employed.
Weakness: Small sample and varying language
backgrounds create differences in the individual and
group EF mean scores.

Conclusion: Poor EF skills do not cause difficulties in ToM

development and other factors such as inhibitory control and
attentional flexibility need to be explored.

Article 3 Park, 2001

Need: Understanding of how hearing children negotiate

differences between their own and others theory of mind,
and how they use ToM understanding to extend their
relationships.
Methodology: Qualitative study of a hearing preschool
multicultural classroom.
Strength: sufficient time in the classroom as a participant
observer for 3 months for 4 hours everyday. Used
ethnographic methods such as videotapes, fieldnotes,
written documents, interviews and personal artifacts to
collect data.
Weakness: Limited to one classroom and no mention of
any child with special needs.
Conclusion: Theory of mind is not made of isolated
constructs but richly integrated states of mind. A new way of
looking at childrens theory of mind should be more
qualitative, contextual and holistic (Park, 2001).

Overall conclusion

Qualitative research needs to be conducted to

study how ToM development in Deaf children
is manifested in their play and social
interactions with other deaf and hearing
children in different school settings.

Mixed methods research would allow for

careful observation on how ToM development
influences the quality of Deaf childrens social
relationships, and to study the impact of full
sign language access at home and at school on
ToM development.