J Autism Dev Disord DOI 10.

1007/s10803-012-1651-4

ORIGINAL PAPER

Theory of Mind, Socio-Emotional Problem-Solving, Socio-Emotional Regulation in Children with Intellectual Disability and in Typically Developing Children
line Baurain Nathalie Nader-Grosbois Ce

Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Abstract This study has examined the link between social information processing (SIP) and socio-emotional regulation (SER) in 45 children with intellectual disability (ID) and 45 typically developing (TD) children, matched on their developmental age. A Coding Grid of SER, focusing on Emotional Expression, Social Behaviour and Behaviours towards Social Rules displayed by children in three dyadic contexts (neutral, competitive or cooperative) was applied. Correlational analyses highlighted specic bi-directional links between some abilities in SIP and in SER, presenting between-groups partial similarities and dissimilarities that allowed discussing the developmental delay versus difference hypotheses in ID children. Cluster cases analyses identied subgroups with variable patterns of links. In both groups, the SIP and some categories of SER varied depending on developmental age. Keywords Theory of mind Social problem-solving Emotion regulation Dyadic play Intellectual disability

Introduction This study has examined the link between abilities in theory of mind-emotions (ToM), in socio-emotional problemsolving (SEPS) and the socio-emotional regulation (SER) in children with intellectual disability (ID) compared to

C. Baurain N. Nader-Grosbois (&) Institute of Psychological Sciences (IPSY), Research Center ` re for Health and Psychological Development, Chair Baron Fre in Special Education, Catholic University of Louvain, 10, Place Cardinal Mercier, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium e-mail: nathalie.nader@uclouvain.be

typically developing (TD) children matched for developmental age (DA) ranging from 3 to 6 years, in order to test the difference structure hypothesis between components of these processes in ID children. Our approach was based on the heuristic model of social skills in typical and atypical childhood, developed by Yeates et al. (2007), that distinguishes three interrelated levels:(1) social information processing (SIP) including ToM and SEPS; (2) social interactions including SER; (3) social adjustment in the social relationships. The SIP depends on the individuals social cognition contributing to the understanding of social situations and to the socio-emotional problem-solving (Nader-Grosbois 2011a). As the ToM refers to the cognitive ability to infer or understand his or her own mental states, emotions and of others, it requires the child to take into account others perspective (Flavell 1999; Koski and Steck 2010). Depending on their cognitive maturation, preschoolers discriminate various expressions of emotions in facial, gestural and verbal display and they acquire the understanding of emotions that allow them to predict emotions according to situations (understanding of causes) and to predict behaviours according to the emotions that are felt (understanding of consequences) (Cole et al. 2008; Gouin carie et al. 2005; Hughes and Leekam 2004; Ketelaars De et al. 2010; Nader-Grosbois 2011a, b; Perron and Gosselin 2009; Scharfe 2000; Slaughter et al. 2002). Moreover, they gradually become able to think about social problemsolving which contributes to a more and more effective social functioning in their relationships (Dodge et al. 2002). In this study, we have focused on the ID and TD childrens understanding of causes and of consequences of emotions in ToM and on their abilities in socio-emotional problem-solving (SEPS), situated in the SIP level of the model of Yeates et al. (2007).

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During social interactions, the children may express their emotions and/or social behaviours and regulate them according their goals, the context or the person with whom they are interacting. Emotion regulation (ER) was dened as the process of initiating, avoiding, inhibiting, maintaining, or modulating the occurrence, form, intensity, or duration of internal feeling states, emotion-related physiological, attentional processes, motivational states, and/or the behavioural concomitants of emotion in the service of accomplishing affect-related biological or social adaptation or achieving individual goals (Eisenberg and Spinrad 2004, p. 338). ER refers to changes associated with activated emotions, including changes in the emotion itself and in other processes (e.g., memory, social interaction) (Cole et al. 2004, p. 320). During the development, children learn to use inter- and intra- personal strategies in order to control and to modify the expression of their emotions to achieve their prioritized goals and adjust themselves to the context (Cole et al. 2004; Davidson et al. 2000; Dennis 2007; Eisenberg et al. 2001; Feng et al. 2008; Galyer and Evans 2001; Gross 2007; Kalpidou et al. 2004; Tamir 2011; Thompson 1994, 2011). From the age of 23 to 6, the representations, the language help the children to acquire self-regulated, anticipated and proactive strategies of ER; they display socio-emotional behaviours in respecting social rules, for the benet of positive social interactions with peers and adults (Cole et al. 2004, 2008; Dennis 2006, 2007; Dennis and Kelemen 2009; Dennis et al. 2009; Eisenberg and Fabes 1992; Eisenberg et al. 1995, 1997; Fabes et al. 1999; Holodynski and Friedlmeier 2005; Kalpidou et al. 2004; Macklem 2008; Perron and Gosselin 2004, 2009; Rieder et al. 2007; Saarni 1999; Spinrad et al. 2006). As preschoolers ER includes an inter-individual process facilitating their adjustment to social environment (Eisenberg et al. 1995; Fabes et al. 1999; Feng et al. 2008; Rydell et al. 2003) and an intra-individual process helping self-control (Dumas and Lebeau 1998; Stein et al. 2008); and as we focus on how children regulate their emotional and social behaviour, we call them socio-emotional regulation (SER). In this study, the childrens socio-emotional behaviours are observed during interactions with others (adult and peer) in distinct contexts (neutral, competitive or cooperative); the observation of SER is situated in the social interactions level of the model of Yeates et al. (2007). What Links are Postulated Between SIP and SER Processes? In their model, Yeates et al. (2007) postulate bi-directional links between the processes of the three levels of social skills; thus, SIP can affect social interaction (including socio-emotional behaviour) which in turn

affects social adjustment and vice versa. In other words, children whose SIP is appropriately mobilized were able to interact easily, display prosocial behaviour and to establish positive relationships (Nader-Grosbois 2011a). Barisnikov and Hippolyte (2011) support these bi-directional links in ID and TD people. Similarly, the understanding of emotions and the SER are also conceived as interrelated skills in models developed by other authors (Halberstadt et al. 2001; Leerkes et al. 2008). In a predictive perspective, other authors postulated that the understanding of emotion enables emotion regulation which in turn facilitates cognitive and behavioural coping strategies; consequently, the understanding of emotion should be considered as a mediator of relations between emotion regulation and social adaptation (Izard et al. 2000); or the level of regulation in preschoolers could predict their emotional understanding 2 years later (Schultz et al. 2001). Nevertheless, more rarely, a lack of association between these two processes was observed: TD children with a high level in SIP have not necessarily a good SER and vice versa (Lindsey and Colwell 2003). What About These Skills in SIP and SER in ID Children in this Developmental Period? In order to appreciate whether there is decit or delay in these skills, it requires referring to the distinction between developmental delay hypothesis versus difference hypothesis about the development in ID children compared to TD children (Flanagan et al. 2008; Hodapp et al. 1990; Zigler and Balla 1982). As most of studies describing decits in ID children compared them to TD children, matched on their chronological age (CA), Zigler and Balla suggested that it necessary to match both populations on their mental age to distinguish their similarities or differences and estimate whether ID childrens specicities could be explained either in terms of delay or difference of development. According to the developmental delay hypothesis, ID children should present similar developmental sequences and similar structures in their abilities and according the developmental difference hypothesis, ID should present dissimilar sequences and structures, in comparison with DA-matched TD children (Nader-Grosbois 2006). During the last decade, there has been an emergence of studies about ID persons on their ToM, their emotion regulation, their emotional abilities in taking into account their specicities in communication and in social adjustment (Nader-Grosbois 2011b). Focusing on ToM, Thirion-Marissiaux and NaderGrosbois (2008a, b, c) found that ID and TD children matched on their DA did not differ in their levels of understanding of causes and consequences of emotions, supporting the hypothesis of developmental delay of ToM

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in ID children. In both groups, the ToM varied depending on the childrens DA, but not on the CA in ID children. A delay or some decits in ID children in their SIP (including emotion recognition; Pochon et al. 2006; Wishart et al. 2007; Zabalia and Corfec 2008) and in executive functions implying difculties in self-control, in self-regulation, in inhibition (Anderson et al. 2001; Edgin 2003; NaderGrosbois 2007) could inuence their emotion regulation. The study conducted by Baurain and Nader-Grosbois (2012) used a new methodological design and a validated grid of coding for the assessment of SER (see details on interraters validity and factorial analyses for validation in Baurain and Nader-Grosbois 2011b). TD and ID children were asked to solve socio-emotional problems in three dyadic contexts (neutral with an adult, competitive and cooperative with a peer). Their results indicated no signicant difference between DA-matched ID and TD children for the intensity and the frequency of emotional expressions (joy, sadness, frustration and anger), the frequency of their behaviour towards social rules and for their adaptation of expressed emotions; these observations supported the hypothesis of developmental delay of SER skills in ID children. Only the displaying of social behaviour was signicantly less frequent in ID group than in TD group. In both groups, there was an effect of dyadic context on the frequency of emotional expressions and of social behaviour, and also on the intensity of expressed emotions (in favour of cooperative and competitive contexts with peers). Moreover, the behaviour toward social rules of both groups and the emotional expressions in TD group varied depending on their DA and only very partially depending on the CA in ID group. Although several studies have highlighted emotional abilities in ID children (Brun and Mellier 2004; Buchel and Paour 2005; Pochon et al. 2006), there are too rare studies investigating the link between their SIP and SER (Baurain and Nader-Grosbois 2009a, b, 2011a; Leerkes et al. 2008). However, some authors have investigated the use of perspective taking and mental-state inference in representing and taking part in dyadic interactions in adolescents and adults with autism and TD children (Begeer et al. 2010). The literature justied to study the links between the SIP and the SER in ID and TD children. Our main objective was to test structural hypotheses of delay or difference about the links between abilities in SIP (including ToM and socio-emotional problem solving) and abilities in SER, by examining between-group similarities versus differences in relational structural patterns in these abilities in DA-matched ID and TD children. We took into account the possible impact of their CA and their DA on these processes and investigated whether inter- and intra-individual variability in these processes could involve the identication of subgroups of children who present distinct patterns of links between specic components of these processes in their proles.

Method Participants The 90 participants were 45 ID children (26 girls, 19 boys) and 45 TD children (23 girls, 22 boys), recruited from French-speaking Belgian special schools (adapted for children with mild and moderate ID) and ordinary schools respectively. Both groups were matched for their DA, assessed by means of the Differential Scales of Intellectual Efciency- Revised edition (EDEI-R, Perron-Borelli 1996). Table 1 shows the mean and the standard deviation of their CA and their DA. For both groups, their DA of between 3 and 6 years correspond to a critical developmental period of the processes in SIP and in SER. The aetiologies of ID were genetic syndromes, pre-, peri- or post-natal complaints, and non-specic retardations due to environmental under-stimulation. We included only children with French as their mother tongue and excluded children presenting conduct disorders or autism, and sensory or motor deciency. 90 children who acted as partners in dyadic games were matched with the targeted children on the basis of their similar level of school learning. The adult partner in the game was the examiner/researcher. Instruments Differential Scales of Intellectual Efciency-Revised Edition (EDEI-R, Perron-Borelli 1996) Validated with atypical and typical populations for children from 3 to 9 years old, these scales were used in order to match the participants of the two groups for global DA. They made it possible to distinguish between a verbal developmental age (VDA) and a non-verbal developmental age (NVDA). The VDA was calculated by means of scores obtained on ve scales (vocabulary, word denition, knowledge, social understanding and conceptualization). The NVDA was calculated by means of the scores obtained on four scales (classication of pairs of pictures, classication of three pictures, categorial analysis and practical
Table 1 Mean scores and standard deviation of chronological age and developmental age in months Groups Chronological age Developmental age Verbal developmental age Non-verbal developmental age ID (n = 45) M (SD) 110.02 (21.98) 56.41 (10.99) 56.95 (12.71) 55.41 (12.57) TD (n = 45) M (SD) 54.41 (11.28) 56.50 (13.2) 56.15 (13.16) 56.9 (15.24)

ID children with intellectual disability, TD typically developing children, n number of children, M mean, SD standard deviation

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adaptation). Their applicability to ID participants has been conrmed (Tourrette 2006). ToM-Emotion Tasks (Nader-Grosbois and Thirion-Marissiaux 2011) In order to assess ToM in typical and atypical children, an adapted measure of the understanding of causes and of consequences of the four basic emotions using pictures was developed and validated. A preliminary task of facial emotional expression recognition of four basic emotions (joy, sadness, anger and fear) was presented; correct recognition was a necessary condition before administer two ToM-emotion tasks. Adapted from the tasks proposed by Quintal (2001), it consists of: Causes of emotions task (the child has to understand the emotion felt by the character of a story according to the situation with which this last one is confronted) and Consequences of emotions task (according the emotion felt by the character of a story, the child has to predict the behaviour of this last one). The Causes of emotions task included four similar beginnings of scripts illustrated by two pictures. The end of each script requires a choice from among four emotions: joy, sadness, anger and fear (illustrated by pictures). For each script, the examiner/researcher told the script and the child was asked to make an emotion attribution to the main character by pointing to the most appropriate of four facial emotional expressions. Finally, the examiner/researcher asked to justify his or her answer. The consequences of emotions task included four scripts (illustrated by two pictures) corresponding to four situations in which the character felt joy, sadness, anger or fear. The end of each script requires a choice among three types of characters behaviour (illustrated by three pictures): adjusted social behaviour, maladjusted social behaviour, or neutral behaviour. For each script, the examiner/researcher told the script and the child was asked to make a choice among the three pictures. Finally, the examiner/researcher asked to justify his or her answer. The response to each emotional script was scored between 0 and 1.5 point according to the participants justication. For each task, the maximal score was 6 points and the both ToM-emotion tasks were scored from a total of 12 points. These ToM tasks have been validated, by NaderGrosbois and Thirion-Marissiaux (2011), from data collected in 40 TD children and 40 ID children or adolescents, matched for developmental age. On the basis of the decoding of 80 videos illustrating the administration of ToM tasks, an estimate of inter-observer reliability was carried out by two independent observers. Concerning the Causes of emotions task and Consequences of emotions task, the validation results were similar for the two tasks in the TD group: inter-observer reliability was 98 %, Cohens

kappa was on average .92 and Pearsons inter-observer correlation coefcient was .96. In ID children, interobserver reliability was 96 and 95 % for the two tasks respectively, Cohens kappa was on average .90 and .89, and Pearsons inter-observer correlation coefcient was .94 and .93. Testretest validation (with an interval of 2 months) of the two tasks was excellent in the two groups. The Social Solving Task (RES, Barisnikov et al. 2004) Recently, Barisnikov and Hippolyte (2011) validated the socio-cognitive battery assessing socio-cognitive, emotional and relational skills of mild to moderate ID people, including the RES. It allows an estimation of the capacity of ID people to judge whether or not other peoples social behaviour is appropriate, and to determine the extent to which their judgment is based on the knowledge of conventional and\or moral rules. The 14 items, illustrated by 14 pictures, consist of appropriate versus inappropriate social behaviour displayed by a character in social situations taken from everyday life. Three questions are proposed. The rst question assesses the judgment of adequate or inadequate social behaviour: What happens in this picture? What do you think? Is he/she doing something that is good or that is not good? (Maximum score = 2). The second question assesses the identication of the target behaviour of the situation: Can you show me what is good/not good in this picture? (Maximum score = 1). The third question estimates the level of justication, in reference to social rules, connected to the judgment: Why it is the good/not good? (Maximum score = 7). The maximum score for three questions in 14 items is 140. Dyadic Game of Socio-Emotional Problem-Solving (Baurain and Nader-Grosbois 2007) This game aims to put the children into several problemsolving situations in different interactive contexts in order to observe and analyze their socio-emotional behaviour directly. The purpose of the game is to resolve several problems in order to reach the end of the course, and the child plays in various possible interactive climates: neutral (the child plays only with an adult), competitive, and cooperative (the child plays with another child-partner). Two aspects are estimated: (1) variation of SER depending on the interactive contexts elicited by the design by applying the coding grid of SER by sequences by viewing videos illustrating children playing in the game (Baurain and Nader-Grosbois 2011b); (2) performance in SEPS. In every context, SEPS corresponds to identifying the characters emotion among four basic emotions (joy, sadness, anger and fear), to differentiate the inappropriate social behaviour versus the appropriate social behaviour, in

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choosing among several possibilities illustrated by pictures. The design is intended to elicit positive and negative emotions in children during these distinct sequences of game: notably frustration when they fail or when their partner succeeds, and joy when they succeed or when they progress more than their partner in the game; it creates a situation where the children need to regulate their emotions, their emotional expressions and their socio-emotional behaviours. These behaviours could be managed in different ways by the children depending on the context and the sequence, and could be more or less adjusted depending on these situational aspects. This interactive game, played in a quiet place at school, was lmed by a camera placed in front of the child, to make it easier to record responses and to ll in the grid of SER. For 13 SEPS, we obtain scores of nine situations-problems and of four critical stories for each of contexts, as well as global scores. For four critical stories relative to the basic emotions, we attribute 1 point per recognized emotion. For the nine situations/problems, we attribute 3 points per situation/problem (1 point if the child recognizes what is socially acceptable or not in the behaviour of one or several protagonist(s); 1 point if the child is capable of justifying what he or she considers acceptable or not; 1 point if the child is capable of choosing the socially acceptable behaviour according to the situation). The order of these nine situations/problems and the possible solution (illustrated by acceptable social behaviour) vary in order to limit the inter-contexts learning biases. For 13 SEPS, the maximum score per context is 31 points and 93 points for all the three contexts. It is possible to attribute .5 if the examiner/researcher helps the target-child. Coding Grid of Socio-Emotional Regulation by Sequences (Baurain and Nader-Grosbois 2011b) In our study, we have focused on the manner in which children regulate emotional expressions, responses and social behaviours in dyadic interactions, when they are confronted to sequences of a game inducing positive versus negative emotions in distinct contexts. This grid was created rstly with reference to behavioural categories in questionnaires completed by parents or teachers, such as the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC, Shields and Cicchetti 1997), the Emotional Regulation Rating Scale (ERRS, Carlson and Wang 2007), and the Emotion Regulation Subscale of the Social Competence Scale (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group 1999) and in direct measurements in observational contexts (Adams Dillon 2009; Cole et al. 2008; Dennis 2006; Dennis and Kelemen 2009; Eisenberg et al. 2001; Fabes et al. 1999; Feng et al. 2008; Flem et al. 1998; Galyer and Evans 2001; Hill et al. 2006; Kalpidou et al. 2004; Lindsey

and Colwell 2003; Rothbart and Bates 1998). The grid (Appendix 1) allows assessing, through verbal and non verbal behaviour, the variability of SER depending on three interactive contexts and on three temporal sequences (three challenges per sequence). It includes 26 items divided into four categories: Emotional Expressions and Emotional Adaptation; Behaviour towards Social Rules (listen and follow adults instructions, wait ones turn); Social Behaviour (pro-social, empathic behaviour and behaviour towards the task such as self-effort or self-control); and Awareness and Evocation of Emotion. There are three distinct contexts: the target-child plays with an adultpartner in neutral context, and with a child-partner in competitive and cooperative contexts. The scoring of 22 items in the rst three categories corresponds to the frequency of behaviour. Appendix 2 presents the scoring and the minimum and maximum scores considered in the grid. The category Awareness and Evocation of Emotion is scored dichotomously, yes or no. Validation phases and statistical analyses were performed in order to verify the concordance between judges, the internal structure, the consistency of the grid, and the relevance of assessing performances in SEPS in the interactive game. Cohens kappa, the intra-class correlation coefcient, factorial analysis, Cronbachs alpha and inter-judge comparisons were all used in order to validate and improve this coding grid (Baurain and Nader-Grosbois 2011b). Procedure In two or three individual sessions (each lasting 45 min), we administered EDEI-R, ToM emotion tasks and RES. In dyadic sessions, we organized the Dyadic Game of SocioEmotional Problem-Solving, in three types of interactive dyadic context: neutral with the examiner, competitive and cooperative with a peer in the presence of the examiner lasted 15 min. The examiner began the rst dyadic session in the neutral context, then randomly proposed two other dyadic sessions (competitive or cooperative contexts). These individual and dyadic sessions took place in a quiet room at school and were lmed by a camera placed in front of the child. The examiner completed the Coding Grid of SocioEmotional Regulation by Sequences by analysing the recorded videos for each target child and each game context. The examiner had been trained to identify verbal and nonverbal cues of emotional expression and the socio-emotional and emotion regulation behaviours described in the grid and had previous experience of organizing the game. The procedure used for analysis was as follows. In order to compare mean scores in SIP (specically in ToM, RES, SEPS) and in components of SER (Emotional Expression, Social Behaviour, Behaviour toward Social Rules) between the two groups, we applied independent samples t test

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analyses. The links between these SIP and SER variables were examined by means of correlational and Chi-square analyses in order to compare structural relation patterns between the two groups and to test the structural hypothesis of difference in ID children compared with DA-matched TD children. Moreover, multiple comparisons (Bonferroni) of DA subgroups and Spearmans coefcients of correlations between childrens DA and SIP and SER variables were conducted, in order to assess the impact of DA on these processes. Hierarchical cluster case analyses (by means of the Ward method and Euclidian distance) were also applied, using, rstly, scores in ToM and in each category of SER, and secondly, scores in RES and in each category of SER, in order to examine whether there were distinct patterns of links between SIP and SER variables in identied subgroups.

Results Participants Characteristics The Table 1 presents average scores and standard deviations for participants characteristics. The DA did not differ between both groups, in spite of a higher mean CA in the ID group than in the TD group. Inter- and Intra-Group Variability of SIP Inter- and Intra-Group Variability of ToM-Emotions As seen in Table 2, independent samples t test analyzes showed no signicant difference between both groups of
Table 2 Independent samples t test analyzes for childrens abilities in ToM, SEPS and SER

the total of ToM, of the understanding of causes and of consequences of emotions. High signicant correlations were obtained between TD childrens CA and abilities in ToM, and specically for the understanding of consequences of emotions. In the ID group, no signicant correlation was obtained between childrens CA and ToM abilities, except a low signicant positive link with the understanding of consequences of emotions (see Table 3). For both groups, positive signicant correlations were obtained between childrens DA and abilities in ToM, except specically for the understanding of causes of emotions in the TD group (see Table 4). Multiple comparisons (Bonferroni) were performed to test the extent to which the childrens DA could inuence the ToM (see Table 5). For both groups, there were signicant differences in favour of the higher DA subgroups for total ToM emotions and the understanding of consequences of emotions. Inter- and Intra-Group Variability of SEPS Independent sample t test analyses performed on the scores in RES and in the 13 SEPS during the game in both groups showed no signicant difference, except only a higher mean score in competitive context in ID group than in TD group (see Table 2). Contrary to the TD group, in the ID group, no signicant correlation was obtained between childrens CA and scores in RES and in the 13 SEPS in all contexts respectively (see Table 3). For both groups, high to moderate signicant correlations (p \ .001; p \ .05) were obtained between childrens

Groups ToM Causes of emotions (max.6) Consequences of emotions (max.6) Total ToM (max.12) SEPS RES 13 SEPS

ID (n = 45) M (SD)

t (df)

TD (n = 45) M (SD)

3.85 (1.48) 4.01 (1.62) 7.86 (2.42) 55.51 (21.56) 47.81 (8.41) 25.2 (4.79) 10.06 (2.18) 12.47 (2.6) 20.8 (9.37) 126.37 (12.86) 64.5 (9.2)

t (88) = .65 t (88) = -.51 t (88) = .00 t (88) = -1.17 t (74.41) = .58 t (79.77) = -.86 t (80) = 2.36* t (85) = 1.07 t (79) = -.61 t (79) = -.31 t (79) = 2.15*

4.04 (1.23) 3.82 (1.86) 7.86 (2.57) 50.58 (17.4) 46.83 (6.44) 25.98 (3.49) 8.96 (2.02) 11.9 (2.35) 19.22 (13.38) 125.5 (12.37) 70.45 (15.09)

ID children with intellectual disability, TD typically developing children, n number of children; t (df) t student, M means scores, SD standard deviation, ToM theory of mindemotion, SEPS socio-emotional problem-solving, RES social resolution task, SER socioemotional regulation * p \ .05

Total 13 SEPS In neutral context In competitive context In cooperative context SER Emotional expressions Behavior towards social rules Social behavior

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Table 3 Spearmans correlations between children CA and ToM, SEPS, SER scores ID group (n = 45) rs ToM Causes of emotions Consequences of emotions Total ToM-emotion SEPS RES 13 SEPS SER Emotional expressions Behaviour towards social rules Social behaviour .17 .12 -.11 .54** .4* .24 .09 .02 .82** .64** .12 .31* .28 .23 .59** .53** TD group (n = 45)

RES and the 13 SEPS [for each context in the ID group and for two contexts, neutral and competitive, in the TD group]. Inter-, Intra-Group and Inter-Situational Variability of SER We have detailed specic results on SER in a previous study (Baurain and Nader-Grosbois 2012). The inter-group comparison of mean scores of frequency of socio-emotional behaviours in each category of SER indicated only a signicant difference of Social Behaviour that was less frequent in the ID group than in the TD group (Table 2). In the ID group, no signicant correlation was obtained between the childrens CA and each category of SER, contrary to the TD group (for Emotional Expressions and Behaviour towards Social Rules, as seen in Table 3). Positive signicant correlations were obtained between TD childrens DA and Emotional Expressions. In ID children, no signicant correlation was obtained between their DA and each category of SER (Table 4). Multiple comparisons (Bonferroni) were performed to test the extent to which the childrens DA could inuence the SER (see Table 5). There were signicant differences between DA-subgroups for Behaviour towards Social Rules in both groups, and for Emotional Expressions only in the TD group. Links Between SIP and SER

ID children with intellectual disability, TD typically developing children, n number of children, rs Correlation of Spearman, ToM theory of mind-emotion, SEPS socio-emotional problem-solving, RES social resolution task, SER socio-emotional regulation ** p \ .001 * p \ .05

Table 4 Spearmans correlations between children DA and ToM, SEPS, SER scores ID group (n = 45) rs ToM Causes of emotions Consequences of emotions Total ToM-emotion SEPS RES 13 SEPS SER Emotional expressions Behaviour towards social rules Social behaviour .11 .06 .01 .45* .26 .31 .63** .42* .79** .74** .41* .52* .55* .09 .44* .36* TD group (n = 45)

ID children with intellectual disability, TD typically developing children, n number of children, rs Correlation of Spearman, ToM theory of mind-emotion, SEPS socio-emotional problem-solving, RES social resolution task, SER socio-emotional regulation ** p \ .001 * p \ .05

Specically, Spearmans coefcients of correlation (rs) were calculated between in one hand the abilities in ToM (total, understanding of causes and of consequences of emotions), in RES, in 13 SEPS and in the other hand each category of SER in each context in each group (see Table 6); and secondly, Kendalls partial rank correlation coefcients (s) were also applied between the same variables, by controlling the DA. Third, Chi-Squares were applied in order to assess the association between these abilities in SIP and the adaptation of expressed emotions (joy, sadness, frustration and anger) in both groups (see Table 7). ToM and SER As seen in Table 6, in the ID group, signicant positive correlations were obtained between their abilities in ToM, and specically for the understanding of causes of emotions, and their Behaviour towards Social Rules. In the TD group, high signicant correlations were obtained between the abilities in ToM and the Behaviour towards Social Rules; signicant positive correlations were also obtained between the abilities in ToM, specically in the

DA and scores in SEPS (including RES and 13 SEPS) (Table 4). Multiple comparisons (Bonferroni) were performed to test the extent to which the childrens DA could inuence the scores in RES and in 13 SEPS (see Table 5). For both groups, there were signicant differences in favour of the higher DA subgroups in the performances in

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Table 5 Mean scores and standard deviation in ToM tasks, SEPS and SER according to childrens DA ID group (n = 45) M (SD) 34 years ToM Causes of emotions Consequences of emotions Total ToM emotions SEPS RES 13 SEPS Total 13 SEPS Neutral context Competitive context Cooperative context SER Emotional expressions Behaviour towards social rules Social behaviour 18.46 (6.66) 120.15 (8.28) 24.69 (8.1) 126.7 (10.65) 19.36 (11.78) 132.47 (5.01) 1.75 2.96* 10.67 (8.98) 119.53 (13.13) 23 (10.31) 130.17 (6.69) 25.62 (15.5) 128.08 (13.47) 6.42* 3.2* 40.84 (7.62) 20.96 (4.9) 9 (2.34) 10.9 (2.37) 48.8 (6.85) 26.56 (3.06) 9.8 (2.27) 12.8 (2.48) 53 (6.11) 28.06 (2.96) 11.2 (1.4) 13.73 (2.22) 11.14** 14.93** 4.26* 5.6* 42.5 (4.6) 23.36 (3.15) 8 (1.51) 11.2 (2.22) 47.18 (6.46) 26.04 (2.55) 8.65 (2.37) 11.08 (2.32) 51.91 (4.55) 28.96 (1.85) 10.38 (1.38) 12.75 (2.41) 11.01** 15.97** 6.41* 1.63 36.8 (15.77) 61.05 (18.13) 68.67 (17.01) 14.37** 34.6 (8.66) 49.86 (11.65) 68.43 (11.1) 37.55** 3.2 (1.79) 2.6 (1.56) 5.8 (2.49) 3.86 (1.2) 4.26 (1.29) 8.13 (1.56) 4.5 (1.16) 5.16 (.72) 9.66 (1.29) 3.16 16.47** 16.53** 3.6 (1.5) 2.46 (1.55) 6.06 (2.45) 4.23 (1.05) 3.9 (1.86) 8.13 (2.48) 4.3 (1.08) 5.1 (1.12) 9.4 (1.57) 1.49 10.95** 8.66** 45 years 56 years F (2) TD group (n = 45) M (SD) 34 years 45 years 56 years F (2)

61.54 (9.64)

67.23 (9.01)

64.67 (8.77)

1.26

66.27 (12.44)

73.33 (22.57)

72.62 (7.54)

.92

ID children with intellectual disability, TD typically developing children, n number of children, M mean, SD standard deviation, ToM theory of mind-emotion, SEPS socio-emotional problem-solving, RES social resolution task, SER socio-emotional regulation ** p \ .001; * p \ .05

understanding of consequences of emotions and the Emotional Expressions. In addition, in the ID group, partial signicant positive correlations (p \ .05) were obtained between the understanding of causes of emotions and the Behaviour towards Social Rules, by controlling the DA (s = .33, in neutral context; s = .38, in cooperative context). In the TD group, partial signicant positive correlations (p \ .05) were obtained between the total ToM and the Behaviour towards Social Rules (s = .34, in competitive context; s = .37, in cooperative context), between the understanding of causes of emotions and the Social Behaviour (s = .35, in cooperative context) respectively, and between the understanding of consequences of emotions and the Behaviour towards Social Rules (s = .36, in cooperative context), by controlling the DA. Chi-Squares assessing the association between ToM (total emotion, causes and consequences of emotions) and the adaptation of expressed emotions (joy, sadness, frustration and anger) in both groups, were not signicant (Table 7).

SEPS and SER As seen in Table 6, signicant positive correlations were obtained in the ID group between the RES and the Behaviour towards Social Rules, and in the TD group between the RES and the Emotional Expressions and the Behaviour towards Social Rules. For both groups, were obtained high signicant correlations between the 13 SEPS and the Behaviour towards Social Rules and some moderate signicant positive correlations between the 13 SEPS and the Social Behaviour. Only in the ID group, partial signicant positive correlations (p \ .05) were obtained between abilities in RES and the Behaviour towards Social Rules (s = .35, in neutral context; s = .42, in cooperative context), the Social Behaviour (s = .32, in neutral context) by controlling the DA. In the ID group, partial signicant positive correlations (p \ .05) were obtained between in one hand the abilities in 13 SEPS and in the other hand, the Emotional Expressions (s = .31, in neutral context); the Behaviour towards

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J Autism Dev Disord Table 6 Spearmans correlations between the categories of SER (in each context) and ToM, and SEPS scores SER Contexts ID children (n = 45) ToM-emotion tasks Total ToM-emotion Causes of emotions Consequences of emotions SEPS RES 13 SEPS TD children (n = 45) ToM-emotion tasks Total ToM-emotion Causes of emotions Consequences of emotions SEPS RES 13 SEPS .23 .08 .45* .26 .27 .21 .38* .23 .54** .52** .36* .26 .26 .45* .44* .51** .22 .06 .07 .26 .05 .34* .11 .35* .37* .16 .41* .25 .08 .33* .07 -.09 .18 .29 .11 .37* .43* .06 .48** .48** .26 .44* .49** .28 .46* .58** .57** .57** .04 -.12 .14 .08 .01 .11 .26 .40* .16 .21 .21 .17 -.21 -.21 .12 .04 -.13 .05 -.05 -.06 .58** .51** .27 .32* .47** .54** .49** .54** .42* .35* .01 .12 .03 .2 .15 .31* .01 .02 .01 .05 .13 .01 -.05 .05 -.17 .1 .1 .07 .41* .36* .23 .16 .18 .08 .46** .51** .23 .35* .32* .21 .34* .32* .18 .18 .13 .11 .13 .17 .13 .26 .27 .12 Emotional expressions NC CompC CoopC AC Behaviour towards social rules NC CompC CoopC AC Social behaviour NC CompC CoopC AC

ID children with intellectual disability, TD typically developing children, n number of children, NC neutral context, CompC competitive context, CoopC cooperative context, AC all contexts, ToM theory of mind-emotion, SEPS socio-emotional problem-solving, RES social resolution task, SER socio-emotional regulation ** p \ .001 * p \ .05

Table 7 Chi-Squares values between total ToM task, RES, 13 SEPS and the adaptation of expressed emotions in ID and TD groups ID group (n = 45) A Low ToM (Mdn \ 8) High ToM (Mdn [ 8) Low RES (Mdn \ 51) High RES (Mdn [ 51) Low 13 SEPS (Mdn \ 49) High 13 SEPS (Mdn [ 49) 11 20 11 20 13 16 NA 7 7 .84 9 5 3.2 7 5 .62 17 10 4 7 2.23 18 14 6 5 .01 v
2

TD group (n = 45) A 14 19 NA 4 8 .3 v2

ID children with intellectual disability, TD typically developing children, n number of children, ToM theory of mind-emotion, RES social resolution task, SEPS socio-emotional problem-solving, A emotional expressions adapted, NA emotional expressions not adapted (concerns all emotions not adapted during all the duration of gamein three contexts), Mdn median, v2 Chi-square test

Social Rules (s = .40, in neutral context; s = .35, in competitive context; s = .48, in cooperative context); the Social Behaviour (s = .42, in neutral context), by controlling the DA. In the TD group, a partial signicant positive correlation (p \ .05) was obtained between the 13 SEPS and the Behaviour towards Social Rules (s = .46, in cooperative context). Chi-Squares, calculated to estimate the association between the SEPS (RES and 13 SEPS) and the adaptation

of expressed emotions (joy, sadness, frustration and anger) in both groups, were not signicant (Table 7). Links Between SIP and SER by Subgroups We made an agglomerative hierarchical analysis by cluster of cases, using the Ward method and Euclidian distance, in order to identify subgroups of children that could present distinct patterns of links between ToM and SER. The

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J Autism Dev Disord Table 8 Mean scores and standard deviation of DA, ToM tasks and SER for every subgroup in ID and TD groups ID M (SD) Clusters DA ToM SER Emotional expressions Behavior towards to social rules Social behavior 25.21 (7.8) 132 (3.7) 68.3 (8.41) 10.67 (4.12) 126.5 (7.26) 58.17 (3.18) 24.75 (4.57) 93.25 (13.22) 63.25 (14.9) 28 (5.21) 129.14 (6.66) 75.93 (11.63) 12.75 (5.7) 132.56 (2.2) 66.75 (8.5) 8 (5.53) 109.5 (9.45) 61.38 (10.44) Subgroup 1 (n = 24) 58.47 (10.6) 8.48 (2.41) Subgroup 2 (n = 12) 56.5 (12.5) 7.7 (2.07) Subgroup 3 (n = 4) 48.19 (9.57) 5.25 (1.55) TD M (SD) Subgroup 1 (n = 14) 60 (11.25) 8.57 (2.64) Subgroup 2 (n = 16) 57.41 (16.36) 8.5 (2.18) Subgroup 3 (n = 8) 44.4 (4.11) 5.5 (2.1)

ID children with intellectual disability, TD typically developing children, M means scores, SD standard deviation, n number of children, DA developmental age, ToM theory of mind, SER socio-emotional regulation Table 9 Mean scores and standard deviation of DA, RES and SER for every subgroup in ID and TD groups

ID group M (SD) Clusters DA Subgroup 1 (n = 17) 49.22 (9.14) 34.24 (7.24) 18.47 (6.9) 120.24 (16.75) 62.18 (8.49) Subgroup 2 (n = 23) 62.48 (9.26) 71.3 (11.04) 22.52 (10.64) 131.13 (6.52) 66.7 (9.26)

TD group M (SD) Subgroup 1 (n = 25) 47.23 (6.85) 38.56 (9.58) 15.32 (10.77) 123.24 (11.88) 66.12 (12.42) Subgroup 2 (n = 13) 70.63 (8.5) 69.38 (8.4) 24.92 (15.99) 129.69 (13.58) 73.15 (6.98)

ID children with intellectual disability, TD typically developing children, M means scores, SD standard deviation, n number of children, DA developmental age, RES social resolution task, SER socioemotional regulation

RES SER Emotional expressions Behavior toward to social rules Social behavior

Table 8 presents the mean scores and standard deviation of DA, ToM and SER for every subgroup in ID and TD groups. In the ID group, three clusters were distinguished: (1) high ToM and high SER in each category; (2) moderate ToM and low Emotional Expressions, moderate Behaviour towards Social Rules and Social Behaviour; and (3) low ToM and low Behaviour towards Social Rules, moderate Emotional Expressions and Social Behaviour. In the TD group, three clusters were identied: (1) high ToM and high SER; (2) high ToM and low Emotional Expressions, high Behaviour towards Social Rules and Social Behaviour; and (3) low ToM and low Emotional Expressions and Behaviour towards Social Rules, moderate Social Behaviour. In both groups, each subgroup presented a distinct mean DA. We applied similar case cluster analysis in order to identify subgroups of children that could present distinct patterns of links between RES and SER. Table 9 shows the mean scores and standard deviation of DA, RES and SER for every subgroup in the ID and TD groups. In the ID group, two clusters were distinguished: (1) low RES and low SER and (2) high RES and high SER. Similarly, in the TD group, two clusters were identied: (1) low RES

and low SER and (2) high RES and high SER. In both groups, each subgroup presented a distinct mean DA. Finally, Appendix 3 presents a clinical vignette of the prole of SIP and SER in an ID child who was included in subgroup 2 in the results of both the cluster case analyses presented previously (Tables 8, 9). It illustrates an individual dynamic between these processes.

Discussion The preliminary results showed the abilities in SIP, including ToM and SEPS, and abilities in SER did not differ between DA-matched ID and TD children, supporting the hypothesis of developmental delay of these processes in ID children (as also observed by Thirion-Marissiaux and Nader-Grosbois 2008b, c, about their ToM-emotion); except a specic decit for the Social Behaviour of SER in ID group, supporting the hypothesis of difference. Concerning the impact of DA, in both groups, several behavioural categories of SER and the SIP varied depending on their DA. When the childrens DA increased, all these socio-emotional skills improved in symbolic

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period of development as showed by other studies, notably of the ToM, (Kasari and Sigman 1996; Thirion-Marissiaux and Nader-Grosbois 2008b); of the SER (Baurain and Nader-Grosbois 2012) in TD and ID groups. Concerning the impact of CA on abilities in SIP, it appeared in the TD group (as suggested by Nader-Grosbois 2011b). In the ID group, except only a very limited impact on their understanding of consequences of emotions, their CA had no impact on total ToM-emotions, the understanding of causes of emotions, abilities in SEPS and SER. These results tallied overall with the observations made by other authors underlining no impact of the length of life experience on ID childrens skills in ToM-emotions and ToM-beliefs (Garitte 2003; Thirion-Marissiaux and NaderGrosbois 2008b). Our main objective was to test the link between SIP, including ToM and SEPS (RES and 13 SEPS), and SER in ID and TD groups and to examine between-groups similarities versus differences in relational structural patterns between these abilities, in order to test delay or difference structural hypotheses. This study supported the hypothesis of partial bi-directional links: some specic abilities in SIP and some categories of socio-emotional behaviour in SER (particularly Behaviour towards Social Rules) appeared as interrelated skills. In addition, although some similarities between groups in these specic relational patterns supporting similar structural patterns postulated in the delay hypothesis in ID group, there were also some dissimilar structural patterns postulated in the difference hypothesis in ID group, in comparison with TD group, matched on their DA. In other words, the links between several abilities of the SIP and of the SER varied in intensity depending on the group and sometimes, there are signicant in one group and not in the other. More specically, in both groups, the results of correlational analyses showed that when their ToM improved, their Behaviour towards Social Rules of the SER increased, and inversely. The ID and TD children who better understand causes or consequences of emotions, listen and follow the instructions given by the adult, are patient for waiting their turn and moderate their externalized behaviour, and vice versa. These similar relational patterns in both groups (matched on the DA) supporting the similar structure in the delay hypothesis, could be explained by similar progression of their skills in ToM (as reported by Thirion-Marissiaux and Nader-Grosbois 2008a, b, c) and in Behaviour towards Social Rules of the SER (as emphasized by Baurain and Nader-Grosbois 2012). In addition, only in TD children, the understanding of consequences of emotions and the Emotional Expressions of the SER were positively linked; it emphasized a structural difference between groups.

Signicant correlational patterns between abilities in ToM (understanding of causes or of consequences) and specic categories of SER (usually Behaviour towards Social Rules) varied according to the type of contexts (cooperative, competitive with peers, neutral with an adult) in which children of both groups interact. In both groups, their ToM abilities were positively linked with this category of SER displayed particularly in neutral and cooperative context (and more rarely in competitive contexts). Moreover, their understanding of causes of emotions was positively linked with their Social Behaviour (in neutral context in ID group, in cooperative context in TD group). Dissimilarity appeared only in ID group: their ToM was positively linked with their Social Behaviour in neutral context; and only in TD group, their ToM and particularly their understanding of consequences of emotions were positively linked to their Emotional Expressions in neutral context or in competitive context). However, when we controlled the DA, variations between both groups were more observed; supporting the difference structure hypothesis in ID group. Indeed, in ID children, their understanding of causes of emotions and the Behaviour towards Social Rules were positively linked. And in TD children their ToM (except their understanding of causes of emotions) and the Behaviour towards Social Rules were positively linked. By controlling the DA, our results also highlighted no signicant link between ToM and two processes of SER, Social Behaviour and Emotional Expressions. That partially tallies with the results of Lindsey and Colwell (2003), not observing the connection between TD childrens emotion understanding (including recognition of facial expressions and emotion situation knowledge) and their ER (assessed by the mothers who completed a questionnaire). These results lead us to interpret them as partial bi-directional links between the ToM and the Behaviour towards Social Rules. Nevertheless, only in TD group, their understanding of causes of emotions and the Social Behaviour (in cooperative context, with peers) were positively linked. The TD children who better understood the causes of emotions, displayed frequently social behaviours while playing (such as social extravert, empathic, attentive behaviours towards the partner) and behaviours towards the task (perseverance and self-control), and inversely. Other studies reported positive links between the emotion understanding and social behaviour in TD preschoolers: those who understand emotions are better equipped to behave empathically (Hughes and Leekam 2004) or prosocially and to engage themselves in sustained cooperative play with peers (Hubbard and Cole 1994). However, this link was not signicant in the ID children in this study. A small number of positive correlations were signicant between abilities in RES and categories of SER considered

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in each context separately and they varied depending on the group (only one in ID children between RES and Behaviour towards Social Rules), supporting the difference structure hypothesis in ID group. Positive signicant correlations appeared between performances in 13 SEPS during the game and specic categories of SER, particularly in ID children (with and without controlling the DA) in neutral context (for each category of SER) and in competitive and cooperative contexts for the Behaviour towards Social Rules; in TD children (when we controlled the DA) only in cooperative context for the Behaviour towards Social Rules. These results showed that the ID children could easily solve SEPS in the neutral context with only an adult, when they expressed their emotions, when they displayed social behaviour and when they were able to follow the adults instructions, to wait their turn. In interactive contexts with peers, cooperative or competitive, they could also easily solve SEPS when they followed adults instructions and waited their turn. These observations contrast with the postulates of Adams Dillon (2009) in which ER and executive functioning (including problems-solving) in preschoolers are separate constructs. More specically, the identication of subgroups of ID and TD children who had distinct patterns of links between some dimensions of SIP and of SER in their proles, showing inter- and intra- individual variability in these processes, lead to better understand that there is different congurations of relational patterns between them in each group. It suggests that children, who had better skills in SIP, did not necessarily express and regulate better their emotions and their social behaviour towards rules or while playing, and vice versa. Except specically for the cluster of cases combining RES and SER distinguishing two subgroups (high versus low in both domains) in the ID and TD groups respectively; the children who had better judgment about appropriate or inappropriate social behaviour in others, expressed and regulated their emotions and their social behaviour towards rules or while playing. In addition, the lack of association between SIP and the adaptation of expressed emotions in both groups suggests that the children who adapted their own emotions according to the situation (such as frustrating situation when they lost) did not necessarily recognize other peoples emotions better, did not have better skills in ToM-emotions, and did not solve problems in RES and SEPS more easily. This result could be explained by the fact that in order to assess SIP abilities, we used pictures that were explained verbally; it requires cognitive representations of the situation that could be more difcult than displaying spontaneous socio-emotional behaviour in an interactive game. According to Kasari et al. (2001), interaction with a person seem to be an easier situation for Downs syndrome children to recognize emotional faces than when the emotion is presented in a picture.

To conclude, our study has observed specic links between the SIP and the SER in TD preschoolers and in ID children presenting similar DA. It emphasized bi-directional links between SIP and SER, as postulated by several authors (as Barisnikov and Hippolyte 2011; Halberstadt et al. 2001; Leerkes et al. 2008; Yeates et al. 2007), even if our results are more nuanced and supported more partial bi-directional links between some dimensions of the SIP (ToM, RES, SEPS) and specic abilities of SER in both groups of children (see Appendix 3, presenting aclinical vignette). The betweengroups comparison of the relational patterns between these different types of abilities supported not only the existence of similar structural patterns (especially concerning the link between ToM and the several categories of SER, all merged contexts) in accordance with similar structure hypothesis in the delay postulate, but also the existence of dissimilar structural patterns (the links between the abilities often varied according to the type of contexts of SER) in accordance with the structural difference hypothesis in ID group compared to TD group. Also, this study has highlighted similarities between ID and TD children matched on their DA, of socioemotional abilities, such as the understanding of causes and consequences of emotions, some dimensions of emotion regulation and abilities in SEPS; so supporting the developmental delay hypothesis in the ID children. Concerning the limitations of this study, there is some heterogeneity in aetiologies of intellectual disabilities and we did not make inter-syndrome comparisons in order to test the difference structural hypothesis about links between SIP and SER. We did not measure childrens emotion regulation in daily life, although this could be different from SER displayed in play contexts. Future studies should examine the dynamic relations between these processes in comparative inter-handicap studies (ID children, autism, or externalized behaviour disorders) and should assess them by means of different methodologies, notably using other-reported questionnaires about childrens SER (such as ERC, ERRS), socio-emotional adjustment (such as the EASE, Hugues et al. 1997) and observing these abilities in variable contexts (experimental design or daily life scripts). For improving the intervention about SIP and SER toward typical and atypical children in order potentially to sustain the quality of their social interactions, their social adjustment (for a review of literature, see Nader-Grosbois 2011a) and their academic success (Graziano et al. 2007), proper assessment of several cognitive, emotional and social processes and proper interpretation of individual proles as a reect of the relational dynamic between them is of paramount importance.
Acknowledgments This study was supported by the Scientic Fund of Research of the Catholic University of Louvain and by the Fund of ` re in Special Education. Chair Baron Fre

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Appendix 1 See Table 10.

Table 10 Coding grid of socio-emotional regulation by sequences Interactive game/Dyad: childadult Socio-emotional regulation V S1 Category 1: Emotional expressions felt by the child while playing and adaptation of the emotion Emotional expressions The child expresses joy The child expresses sadness The child expresses frustration/disappointment The child expresses anger The child expresses fear The child expresses anxiety Emotional expressions adapted to created situations The emotion expressed (joy) is adapted to created situations The emotion expressed (sadness) is adapted to created situations The emotion expressed (frustration) is adapted to created situations The emotion expressed (anger) is adapted to created situations The emotion expressed (fear) is adapted to created situations The emotion expressed (anxiety) is adapted to created situations Category 2: The childs behaviour towards social rules The child listens to the instructions The child follows the instructions The child is patient (he/she waits his turn) The child displays listening behaviour (in general) The child moderates his or her externalized behaviour Category 3: The childs social behaviour while playing Pro social behaviour The child displays socio-extravert behaviour (socio-communicative behaviour, he or she participates in the interaction) The child displays empathy behaviour The child displays attentive behaviour Behaviour towards the task The child perseveres to reach his or her goals (he or she maintains his or her motivation, self-effort) The child controls difculty (self-control) Category 4: Awareness and evocation of emotion at the end of game The child is aware of having felt joy and evokes it The child is aware of having felt sadness and evokes it The child is aware of having felt anger and evokes it The child is aware of having felt fear and evokes it ?: very frequent scored 3; /: moderately frequent scored 2; -: infrequent scored 1, 0: non-existent scored 0; V verbal, NV non-verbal, S sequences (S1, sequence 1 = socio-emotional problem-solving 1, 2, 3; S2, sequence 2 = socio-emotional problem-solving 4, 5, 6; S3, sequence 3 = socio-emotional problem-solving 7, 8, 9) S2 S3 NV S1 S2 S3

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Appendix 2

Scoring of the coding grid of socio-emotional regulation by sequences Observation of 22 items Code ? / 0 Very frequent Moderately frequent Infrequent Non-existent Scores 3 2 1 0

Minimum and maximum scores in the coding grid of socio-emotional regulation by sequences Contexts of interactive game Dyads Contexts Socio-emotional regulation Category 1 Emotional expressions/adaptation Category 2 Childs behaviour towards social rules Category 3 Childs social behaviour Total cross-contexts Total coding grid % Cross-cat. cross-categories 0 90 396 0 90 396 0 90 396 1188 270 0 90 0 90 0 90 270 0 216 0 216 0 216 648 Childadult Neutral Minimum score Maximum score Childchild Competitive Minimum score Maximum score Childchild Cooperative Minimum score Maximum score Total crosscat. %

Appendix 3 Clinical Vignette: The Case of Jessica Jessica is 7 years and 7 months old and comes from a French-speaking Belgian special school. The aetiology of her intellectual disabilities corresponds to non-specic retardation due to environmental under-stimulation (See Table 11). Jessica presents a mild intellectual disability, as indicated by levels of verbal and non-verbal intellectual efciency.1 Although her verbal and non-verbal developmental age are

These levels of intellectual efciency express the position of the subject considered in the distribution of the children of the same age, returned by convention to an average = 100 and in a standard deviation = 1500 (Perron-Borelli 1996, p. 88).

nearly the same, Jessica presents a lower level of verbal intellectual efciency than of non-verbal intellectual efciency. Moreover, her cognitive prole is heterogeneous in terms of developmental age obtained in distinct scales. Her strengths correspond to abilities in vocabulary and in classication of pictures, while her weaknesses are situated particularly in abilities in practical adaptation, because she has difculties in mobilizing her reasoning and logical thinking (See Table 12). In terms of the components of social information processing, Jessica displays very good performances in ToM and in social problem-solving (in RES and in 13 SEPS). More specically, with regard to her abilities in ToM, Jessica understands the consequences of emotions better than the causes of emotions: in other words, she nds it easier to understand well-adjusted behaviour according to the emotion felt by the character in the stories than the type of emotions that the character might feel according to the

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J Autism Dev Disord Table 11 Developmental age per scale, verbal and non-verbal developmental ages and levels of intellectual efciency (EDEI-R) Scales Developmental age Levels of intellectual efciency

Verbal skills IVocabulary A (pictures denomination) Vocabulary B (denitions) IIKnowledge IIISocial understanding IVConceptualization Total verbal Non-verbal skills VClassications A (couples of pictures) Classications B (series of pictures) VICategorial analysis VIIPractical adaptation Total non-verbal Total 6.6 5.10 3.10 5.45 5.3 89 81 61 77 71.14 4.8 5 4.9 5.2 62 60 60 66.75 6.3 85

Table 12 Social information processing and socio-emotional regulation abilities Instruments Social information processing (SIP) Understanding of emotions (ToM, max 12) Causes of emotions score (max 6) Consequences of emotions score (max 6) Social solving task (RES, max 140) Appropriate social behaviour (max 50) Inappropriate social behaviour (max 90) Socio-emotional problem-solving (13 SEPS, max 60) Coding grid of socio-emotional regulation (SER) Category emotional expression (total) Neutral context Competitive context Cooperative context Category behaviour towards social rules (total) Neutral context Competitive context Cooperative context Category social behaviour (total) Neutral context Competitive context Cooperative context 6 0 1 5 134 45 44 45 58 18 8 22 10 4 6 87 40 47 57 Jessica scores

situation. Her difculties particularly concern the causes of fear and of anger. With regard to her performances in social problem-solving in RES, Jessica nds it easier to identify and justify appropriate social behaviours than inappropriate social behaviours in illustrated social situations. In terms of her skills in socio-emotional regulation, Jessica displays very frequent behaviours which take account of social rules, whatever the context (she listens/ follows to the instructions; is patient; displays listening behaviour; and moderates her externalized behaviour). However, she does not express her emotions very much (specically in competitive neutral contexts) and she displays moderately social behaviours whatever the context (displaying some socio-extravert behaviour, empathy behaviour and attentive behaviour, persevering to reach her goals and controlling difculty). Jessica expresses her emotions and social behaviour in nonverbal ways; this could be because her non-verbal skills in cognitive development are better than her verbal skills. We suggest that Jessica has good abilities in social information processing, which particularly helps her to behave in accordance with social rules (such as following or listening to instructions) during interactions with adults and peers, but does not help her to express her emotions according to the social climate. Either Jessica has difculties in expressing her emotions, or she is developing the ability to dissimulate her emotions. This could be explored in her daily life. This prole shows that a child with intellectual disability who is able to process social information may present variability in socio-emotional regulation (in emotional expression, social behaviour and behaviour with respect to social rules), and emphasizes the clinical interest of assessing these processes in order to dene individualized intervention objectives.

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