Assessment of theory of mind in Tunisian verbal children with autism spectrum disorder

The present study examined performance in Theory of Mind (ToM) in a group of 31 Arabic-speaking verbal children (7–12 years-old) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in comparison with neurotypical controls (NT) matched for age and for cognitive abilities. An innovative task in a digital format name...

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Published inFrontiers in psychiatry Vol. 13; p. 922873
Main Authors Jelili, Selima, Halayem, Soumeyya, Rajhi, Olfa, Abbes, Zeineb, Mansour, Hajer Ben, Ouanes, Sami, Taamallah, Amal, Ennaifer, Selima, Ben Yahia, Houda, Ghazzei, Melek, Nabli, Ahmed, Hajri, Malek, Fakhfakh, Radhouane, Mrabet, Ali, Bouden, Asma
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Frontiers Media S.A 17.11.2022
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Summary:The present study examined performance in Theory of Mind (ToM) in a group of 31 Arabic-speaking verbal children (7–12 years-old) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in comparison with neurotypical controls (NT) matched for age and for cognitive abilities. An innovative task in a digital format named “The Tunisian Social Situations Instrument” (TSSI) was used and allowed us to study four different subdomains of ToM: attribution of intention and epistemic ToM (cognitive ToM), affective ToM, and detection of faux pas (advanced ToM). Our study showed impairments in ToM in children with ASD, similar to those reported in the literature. Our findings additionally suggested that affective and advanced ToM, specifically the detection of faux pas, might be more challenging for ASD children than other components of ToM. Future studies with larger number of children may lead us to specify which subdomains are the most impaired in order to develop specific tools targeting these specific impairments.
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This article was submitted to Autism, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry
Edited by: Clare Margaret Eddy, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
Reviewed by: Irene Garcia-Molina, University of Jaume I, Spain; Christopher Osterhaus, University of Vechta, Germany
ISSN:1664-0640
1664-0640
DOI:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.922873