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Autistic Social Dysfunction: Some Limitations of the Theory of Mind Hypothesis
Author(s) -
Klin Ami,
Volkmar Fred R.,
Sparrow Sara S.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1992.tb01961.x
Subject(s) - psychology , autism , vineland adaptive behavior scale , theory of mind , developmental psychology , developmental disorder , social relation , infantile autism , cognition , psychiatry , social psychology
— This study examined the extent to which the social disabilities found in autism can be accounted for by the “Theory of Mind” hypothesis. Items related to social development from the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales were administered to 29 CA‐, MA‐and IQ‐matched pairs of young autistic and non‐autistic, developmentally disabled children. These items were evaluated in relation to expected ages of acquisition based on the Vineland standardization database. Our results indicate that the social dysfunction in autism affects very basic and early emerging social behaviors which are typically present prior to the time at which even the earliest precursors of a theory of mind apparently emerge.