A Study of 6-8 Years Old Autism Children's Theory of Mind Developmental Characters

Abstract

The incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) continues to rise globally, with epidemiological studies reporting a prevalence rate as high as 1 in 54. Theory of Mind (ToM), defined as the ability to infer and predict others' mental states and behaviors, is widely regarded as a core deficit underlying social communication challenges in children with autism. This study employs a quantitative comparative research design to investigate differences in ToM development between 30 children with ASD (experimental group, aged 6–8) and 30 age-matched typically developing children (control group). Results demonstrate that children with ASD exhibited significantly lower levels of ToM development compared to their typically developing peers, with marked difficulties observed in tasks assessing basic belief understanding and false belief reasoning.