Megan Critchlow - Psychology
The normal development of a Theory of Mind
Before we can develop an autistic child’s Theory of Mind, we need to look at the
development of a normal child’s and make a comparison. If we can demonstrate that a
Theory of Mind can be developed, this will show it is necessary to train autistic children to
help develop their Theory of Minds.
From 14 months to 9 years many social developments occur regarding a normal child’s
Theory of Mind. By 14 months typical children develop “joint attention” (Baron-Cohen,
2008 p.58) where they look into others eyes and pay attention to what others are interested in.
By 24 months they can engage in “pretend play” (ibid), by deducing what is going on in a
game from the point of view of another child and therefore being able to join in. At these
ages autistic children have a reduced frequency of joint attention and pretend play.
By 3 years old normal children are able to understand that seeing leads to knowing. For
example if you saw your sister take a sweet whilst your mum wasn’t looking, you understand
that you saw the action so you know that your sister took the sweet, but your mum did not see
and therefore is unaware. Autistic children do not naturally pick up this concept.
Finally once typical children reach the age of 9 they are able to use tact (Baron-Cohen, 2008
p.60-61). Recognising what may hurt another’s feelings and how to avoid this, however this
notion is delayed by 3 years for autistic children. Autistic children also struggle to interpret
expressions from eyes and work out what someone may be thinking or feeling. Although
typical 9 year olds have usually acquired this ability, people with autism often score low on
more advanced expression reading tests into their adulthood, introducing further social
disadvantages into their lives. This brief timeline into the growth of a typical child
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