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Children aged 3?12?years (n?=?184) with typical development, deafness, autism, or Asperger syndrome took a series of theory-of-mind (ToM) tasks to confirm and extend previous developmental scaling evidence. A new sarcasm task, in the format of H. M. Wellman and D. Liu?s (2004) 5-step ToM Scale, added a statistically reliable 6th step to the scale for all diagnostic groups. A key previous finding, divergence in task sequencing for children with autism, was confirmed. Comparisons among diagnostic groups, controlling age, and language ability, showed that typical developers mastered the 6 ToM steps ahead of each of the 3 disabled groups, with implications for ToM theories. The final (sarcasm) task challenged even nondisabled 9-year-olds, demonstrating the new scale?s sensitivity to post-preschool ToM growth.
We examined the associations between theory of mind (ToM) and peer cooperation among preschoolers in two play contexts. Fifty-eight 3-to-5-year-old children from middle class suburbs of Brisbane, Australia were tested for ToM and observed in same-age and same-gender dyads for peer cooperation. To measure ToM, we administered the 5-step ToM scale. With an implicit false belief task, children's eye gaze responses to indirect action anticipation prompt were assessed. To measure peer cooperation, we used independent and joint play contexts and coded communicative and coordinated behaviours. Performance on the ToM scale, but not implicit false belief, was associated with peer cooperation in the independent play, but not the joint play context. Dyadic data analysis showed that in the independent play context, ToM played a critical role for cooperation, both as an actor and a partner. These results support recommendations for ToM training in early childhood to support children's cooperative behaviours.