Abstract:
―Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to recognize other people‘s mental states and to
understand that people‘s behavior is influenced by their emotions, beliefs and desires‖.
Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have severe problem in theory of mind
ability; for this reason they face social, communicative and imaginative problem.
Previous studies have found that Autism Spectrum Disorder‘s children have severe
deficit in Theory of Mind development. Using False belief Battery, the aims of this study
were to find out developmental of ToM in typically developing Bangla speaking children
and ASD children aged 4-8 years. This is a cross sectional study where 80 samples were
purposively assigned. Those samples were divided in typical and ASD group and 40
samples was each group. Bangla translated false belief battery script was used for data
collection. The result showed that children with ASD performed consistently more poorly
on the ToM tasks than typically developing children. Furthermore, ToM ability in the
current typically developing sample was not similar with universal development.
Bangladeshi children development slows than children from other countries on the ToM,
which may be due to cultural factors. Understanding of false belief (Theory of Mind)
difference between typical and ASD children were significant and there is no significant
difference in development of Theory of mind between girls and boys.
Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, false belief understanding, theory of mind
Description:
This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Speech and Language Therapy, Bangladesh Health Professions Institute, Faculty of Medicine, the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
