ToM

[Bencie Woll]

Ben Karlin,
Forwarded by B. Woll

In light of what you wrote in your email about ToM and deaf children,
I would encourage you to read some of the following publications on
ToM and deafness:

Peterson, C.C & Siegal (1998), Changing focus on the
representational mind:  Deaf, autistic and normal children's concept
of false photos, false drawings, and false beliefs, British Journal of
Developmental Psychology, 16, 301-320.

Peterson, C. C., & Siegal, M. (1999), Representing inner worlds:
Theory of mind in autistic, deaf, and normal hearing children.
Psychological Science, 10,  126-129.

Rhys Jones and Ellis (2000) Theory of Mind : Deaf and Hearing
Children's Comprehension of Picture Stories and Judgements of
Social Situations, Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 5,
3, 248-265.

Russell, Hosie, Gray, Scott and Hunter, The Development of
Theory of Mind in Deaf Children,  Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, Vol 39, 6, 903-910 1998

All of these studies point to a delayed ToM development in deaf
children compared to their hearing counterparts.  However, they
have had their share of methodological difficulties which I have tried
to avoid in my recent study under the supervision of Siegal.

While my study avoided the influence of language and IQ and used
a non-verbal test of ToM, there remained a strong difference
between children of deaf and hearing parents.  We feel this points
to the need to access informal conversations at an early age which
in turn encourages thinking about other people's perspectives.

I would be happy to enter direct correspondence.

Yours
Tyron Woolfe (PhD student at the Univeristy of Sheffield, UK)
Tyron Woolfe <t.woolfe at sheffield.ac.uk>
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