Social behaviour in pervasive developmental disorders: Effects of informant, group and “theory-of-mind”

Abstract

Theory of mind skills and a range of social behaviour in everyday life were assessed in a sample of 21 children with pervasive developmental disorders and 22 normally-developing preschoolers. Parents, teachers and therapists were interviewed using the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales and a new supplementary scale, the "Echelle d'Adaptation Sociale pour Enfants" (EASE). Teachers and therapists were able to differentiate subtle forms of social problems in everyday life between subgroups of children diagnosed later to have either autism (n = 13) or PDDNOS (n = 8), according to DSM-III-R (1) criteria. This study offers a (small) cross-cultural replication of recent work suggesting that differences in the mentalising skills of children with autism are reflected in the everyday social behaviour of this group. A significant effect of informant was found for the PDD group, and this effect was particularly pronounced when children with autism were considered separately. The implications of informant differences are discussed.

A new `advanced' test of theory of mind: evidence from children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome

“…This might be related to their literal thinking and to their slow and 'digital' way of processing social events, indicating a somewhat different 'cognitive style' (Happé, 1999) or 'difference' in mentalising abilities (Baron-Cohen, 2000). There is some experimental evidence of a relation between young children's theory of mind and social understanding in a naturalistic setting (Astington & Jenkins, 1995) and the same type of relation also seems to exist in individuals with autism or PDD (Frith et al 1994;Hughes, Soares-Boucaud, Hochmann, & Frith, 1997). Such a relation may have -treating autism and AS as two faces of the same disorder -significant consequences for the AS persons' functioning in everyday social life, since social understanding in naturalistic settings requires mental flexibility and subtle timing of social responses.…”

Experimental Study of Short-term Training in Social Cognition in Pre-schoolers

“…The coefficients of test-retest stability were highly significant (between .66 and .93 for teachers, between .80 and .89 for caregivers). Hughes & Soares-Boucaud, 1997) This measures adults' perception of children's socio-emotional adjustment. It includes items relating to social skills (non-ToM) and items dealing with perspective-taking abilities (ToM).…”

Validation of the Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire in a Total Population Sample

“…Although an ASD assessment in clinical work usually includes gathering information from various sources, little work has been done on informant specific contribution in autism research. Studies analyzing the potentially very important effect of informant in studies of autistic symptoms show discrepant results, and conclude that the issue should be more extensively investigated (Ehlers et al 1997;Hughes et al 1997;Konstantareas and Homatidis 1989;Szatmari et al 1994). When screening for autism, typically only one informant (parents or teachers) is involved in the first questionnaire phases.…”