Theory of Mind and Parental Mental-State Talk in Children with CIs

This study investigated ToM and availability of parental MST in deaf children with CIs (n = 39,Mage = 62.92, SD = 15.23) in comparison with their peers with typical hearing (TH;n = 52,Mage = 52.48, SD = 1.07). MST was measured during shared storybook reading. Parents’ narratives were coded for cognitive, emotional, literal, and non-mental references. ToM was measured with a parental questionnaire. Children with CIs had lower ToM scores than their peers with TH, and their pa rents used more literal references during shared storybook reading. There were no significant differences in the frequencies of cognitive and emotional references between groups. Parental emotional references contributed positively to children’s ToM scores when controlling for the child’s age an d receptive grammar only in the CI group. These results indicated some distinctive features in parents of deaf children with CIs’ MST and highlighted the role of MST in the development of ToM abilities in this group.
Source: Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education - Category: Audiology Source Type: research