Language and Theory of Mind: A Study of Deaf Children

TLDR

The study assessed 176 deaf children (3 y 11 mo–8 y 3 mo) with a battery of false‑belief, knowledge‑state, and language tasks, comparing those who used ASL or oral English and had hearing versus deaf parents. Deaf children with hearing parents showed delayed theory‑of‑mind performance regardless of language modality, whereas those from deaf families matched hearing peers, and both vocabulary and syntactic complement comprehension independently predicted ToM success.

Abstract

Theory-of-mind (ToM) abilities were studied in 176 deaf children aged 3 years 11 months to 8 years 3 months who use either American Sign Language (ASL) or oral English, with hearing parents or deaf parents. A battery of tasks tapping understanding of false belief and knowledge state and language skills, ASL or English, was given to each child. There was a significant delay on ToM tasks in deaf children of hearing parents, who typically demonstrate language delays, regardless of whether they used spoken English or ASL. In contrast, deaf children from deaf families performed identically to same-aged hearing controls (N=42). Both vocabulary and understanding syntactic complements were significant independent predictors of success on verbal and low-verbal ToM tasks.