Theory of Mind: Deaf and Hearing Children's Comprehension of Picture Stories and Judgments of Social Situations

Rhys-Jones, Sara L.; Ellis, Hadyn D.

doi:10.1093/deafed/5.3.248

Cited by 22 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…The consensus of these studies is that the relatively poor performance of deaf individuals does not result from the experience of being deaf itself, but from the consequent delay in language exposure (Peterson and Siegal, 1999; Rhys-Jones and Ellis, 2000; Woolfe et al, 2002; Courtin and Melot, 2005; Moeller and Schick, 2006; Morgan and Kegl, 2006; Schick et al, 2007; Meristo et al, 2012, among others). What these studies have shown is that ToM abilities are delayed commensurate with the degree of delay of exposure to sign language.…”

Section: Study 4: Experiential False Beliefmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visible Social Interactions Do Not Support the Development of False Belief Understanding in the Absence of Linguistic Input: Evidence from Deaf Adult Homesigners

Gagne

Coppola

2017

Front. Psychol.

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Congenitally deaf individuals exhibit enhanced visuospatial abilities relative to normally hearing individuals. An early example is the increased sensitivity of deaf signers to stimuli in the visual periphery (Neville and Lawson, 1987a). While these enhancements are robust and extend across a number of visual and spatial skills, they seem not to extend to other domains which could potentially build on these enhancements. For example, congenitally deaf children, in the absence of adequate language exposure and acquisition, do not develop typical social cognition skills as measured by traditional Theory of Mind tasks. These delays/deficits occur despite their presumed lifetime use of visuo-perceptual abilities to infer the intentions and behaviors of others (e.g., Pyers and Senghas, 2009; O’Reilly et al., 2014). In a series of studies, we explore the limits on the plasticity of visually based socio-cognitive abilities, from perspective taking to Theory of Mind/False Belief, in rarely studied individuals: deaf adults who have not acquired a conventional language (Homesigners). We compared Homesigners’ performance to that of two other understudied groups in the same culture: Deaf signers of an emerging language (Cohort 1 of Nicaraguan Sign Language), and hearing speakers of Spanish with minimal schooling. We found that homesigners performed equivalently to both comparison groups with respect to several visual socio-cognitive abilities: Perspective Taking (Levels 1 and 2), adapted from Masangkay et al. (1974), and the False Photograph task, adapted from Leslie and Thaiss (1992). However, a lifetime of visuo-perceptual experiences (observing the behavior and interactions of others) did not support success on False Belief tasks, even when linguistic demands were minimized. Participants in the comparison groups outperformed the Homesigners, but did not universally pass the False Belief tasks. Our results suggest that while some of the social development achievements of young typically developing children may be dissociable from their linguistic experiences, language and/or educational experiences clearly scaffolds the transition into False Belief understanding. The lack of experience using a shared language cannot be overcome, even with the benefit of many years of observing others’ behaviors and the potential neural reorganization and visuospatial enhancements resulting from deafness.

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Section: Study 4: Experiential False Beliefmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visible Social Interactions Do Not Support the Development of False Belief Understanding in the Absence of Linguistic Input: Evidence from Deaf Adult Homesigners

Gagne

Coppola

2017

Front. Psychol.

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“…Although deaf children appear to catch up later, early delays create significant problems for deaf children socially and emotionally. 81,82 Abusive experiences Surveys of adults in Norway and North America suggest that deaf children are between two and three times more likely to be sexually abused than hearing children, and less likely to disclose their abuse. 83 These experiences may lead to subsequent substance misuse behaviours and negative mental health outcomes, 84 and abuse is in general associated with higher rates of negative mental health outcomes.…”

Section: Emotional Development and Theory Of Mindmentioning

confidence: 99%

Translation into British Sign Language and validation of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

Roberts

Wright

Moore

et al. 2015

Health Services and Delivery Research

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BackgroundThere are an estimated 125,000 deaf people in the UK who use British Sign Language (BSL) as their main form of communication, but there are no child mental health screening instruments that are accessible to deaf children whose first or main language is BSL (or to deaf adults reporting on children). This study sought to develop a new BSL translation of a commonly used mental health screening tool (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, SDQ), with versions available for deaf young people (aged 11–16 years), parents and teachers. The psychometric properties of this translation, and its validity for use with the deaf signing UK population, were also investigated.Objectives(1) To translate the SDQ into BSL; and (2) to use this new version with a cohort of deaf children, deaf parents and deaf teachers fluent in BSL across England, and validate it against a ‘gold standard’ clinical interview.MethodsThis study was split into two broad phases: translation and validation. The BSL SDQ was developed using a rigorous translation/back-translation methodology with additional checks, and we have defined high-quality standards for the translation of written/oral to visual languages. We compared all three versions of the SDQ (deaf parent, deaf teacher and deaf young person) with a gold standard clinical interview by child mental health clinicians experienced in working with deaf children. We also carried out a range of reliability and validity checks.ResultsThe SDQ was successfully translated using a careful methodology that took into account the linguistic and cultural aspects of translating a written/verbal language to a visual one. We recruited 144 deaf young people (aged 11–16 years), 191 deaf parents of a child aged either 4–10 or 11–16 years (the child could be hearing or deaf) and 77 deaf teachers and teaching assistants. We sought deaf people whose main or preferred language was BSL. We also recruited hearing participants to aid cross-validation. We found that the test–retest reliability, factor analysis and internal consistency of the three new scales were broadly similar to those of other translated versions of the SDQ. We also found that using the established multi-informant SDQ scoring algorithm there was good sensitivity (76%) and specificity (73%) against the gold standard clinical interview assessment. The SDQ was successfully validated and can now be used in clinical practice and research. Factor analysis suggests that the instrument is good for screening for mental health problems but not for the identification of specific disorders, and so should be used as a screening instrument. It will also enable outcomes to be monitored.ConclusionsA BSL version of the SDQ can now be used for national studies screening for mental health problems in deaf children. This will help us better understand the needs of deaf children and will enable earlier detection of mental health difficulties. It can also be used within clinical settings to monitor outcomes.Future workFuture work may focus on using the SDQ in epidemiological research, and developing new assessment instruments for deaf children to improve assessment methods in the deaf population.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.

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“…Borgna et al (2011) suggested this as an example of the "unskilled and unaware effect" (Kruger & Dunning, 1999), wherein having lesser ability in a domain leaves one less able to recognize that fact. Indeed, a central aspect of social maturity is the ability to appreciate social situations from the points of view of others, a domain in which deaf children and adolescents have been found to have difficulty (e.g., Peterson, Slaughter, Moore, & Wellman, 2016;Punch & Hyde, 2011;Rhys-Jones & Ellis, 2000;Rieffe, Netten, & Broekhof, 2015;Terwogt & Rieffe, 2004). Caldarella and Merrell (1997) found self-management, including social maturity, self-control/social convention, and respect for social rules to be one of the most common dimensions to emerge from meta-analyses of studies examining social skills of (hearing) children and adolescents (see Doren et al, 2012).…”

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confidence: 99%

Social Maturity and Executive Function Among Deaf Learners

Marschark

Kronenberger

Rosica

et al. 2016

J. Deaf Stud. Deaf Educ.

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Two experiments examined relations among social maturity, executive function, language, and cochlear implant (CI) use among deaf high school and college students. Experiment 1 revealed no differences between deaf CI users, deaf nonusers, and hearing college students in measures of social maturity. However, deaf students (both CI users and nonusers) reported significantly greater executive function (EF) difficulties in several domains, and EF was related to social maturity. Experiment 2 found that deaf CI users and nonusers in high school did not differ from each other in social maturity or EF, but individuals who relied on sign language reported significantly more immature behaviors than deaf peers who used spoken language. EF difficulties again were associated with social maturity. The present results indicate that EF and social maturity are interrelated, but those relations vary in different deaf subpopulations. As with academic achievement, CI use appears to have little long-term impact on EF or social maturity. Results are discussed in terms of their convergence with findings related to incidental learning and functioning in several domains.

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Theory of Mind: Deaf and Hearing Children's Comprehension of Picture Stories and Judgments of Social Situations

Cited by 22 publications

References 38 publications

Visible Social Interactions Do Not Support the Development of False Belief Understanding in the Absence of Linguistic Input: Evidence from Deaf Adult Homesigners

Visible Social Interactions Do Not Support the Development of False Belief Understanding in the Absence of Linguistic Input: Evidence from Deaf Adult Homesigners

Translation into British Sign Language and validation of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

Social Maturity and Executive Function Among Deaf Learners

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