Comprehension of figurative language in Taiwanese children with autism: The role of theory of mind and receptive vocabulary

First-order theory of mind (ToM) is necessary for comprehension of metaphors, and second-order ToM is necessary for comprehension of irony. This study investigated the role of ToM and language ability in comprehending figurative language in 50 Taiwanese children with high-functioning autism spectrum...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inClinical linguistics & phonetics Vol. 29; no. 8-10; p. 764
Main Authors Huang, Su-Fen, Oi, Manabu, Taguchi, Aiko
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England 01.01.2015
Subjects
Autism Spectrum Disorder - diagnosis
Autism Spectrum Disorder - psychology
Autism Spectrum Disorder - therapy
Child
Comprehension
Female
Humans
Language
Language Development Disorders - diagnosis
Language Development Disorders - psychology
Language Development Disorders - therapy
Language Tests
Male
Metaphor
Speech Perception
Taiwan
Theory of Mind
Vocabulary
Taiwan
Autism
metaphor
receptive vocabulary
theory of mind
irony
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Summary:First-order theory of mind (ToM) is necessary for comprehension of metaphors, and second-order ToM is necessary for comprehension of irony. This study investigated the role of ToM and language ability in comprehending figurative language in 50 Taiwanese children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASDs) compared with 50 typically developing children. Results showed that the No-ToM HFASDs group performed worse than the first-order ToM HFASDs group and the second-order ToM HFASDs group in comprehension of metaphors, irony, sarcasm and indirect reproach, but not for indirect request. Receptive vocabulary correlated only with metaphor comprehension. The volatility of results seen among studies in terms of the relationship between ToM and figurative language comprehension is discussed.
ISSN:1464-5076
DOI:10.3109/02699206.2015.1027833