A transdiagnostic study of theory of mind in children and youth with neurodevelopmental conditions.
Kaela Amorim, Marlee M Vandewouw, Nhu Huynh and 10 others
PMID 40685381WHAT IT FOUND
Across 555 children and youth, a moving-shapes task did not show group differences in making social stories.
Autistic participants gave less relevant descriptions, but intelligence and social communication predicted performance better than diagnosis.
Key findings
01Scores on the animation index did not differ significantly across diagnostic groups.
02The autism group had lower pertinence index scores than the ADHD, OCD, and neurotypical groups, and pertinence improved with age.
03Intelligence, verbal intelligence, and social communication difficulties explained more variance in the moving-shapes task than diagnostic category.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The task required spoken descriptions, so non-verbal and minimally verbal individuals were excluded. People with low IQ may not have been able to complete the protocol, so the sample may not represent all autistic children. The autism group had lower IQ and social communication scores than other groups, which may explain their lower pertinence scores. The OCD group was much smaller than the other groups, was slightly older, and had higher IQ, which may affect comparisons. The SAT has not been validated against other theory-of-mind measures, although the paper suggests a multiple-choice version may be better for verbal limitations.
Declared interests
The Ontario Brain Institute is listed as funder, and the article is marked as NIH intramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the autism group's lower pertinence scores as evidence that diagnosis alone explains poorer theory of mind. The paper found intelligence and social communication were stronger predictors, and lower verbal ability can lower scores.