A Developmental Perspective for Promoting Theory of Mind

Social neuroscience research has resulted in changing views of the theory of mind (ToM) construct. Theory of mind is no longer viewed as a unitary construct, but rather as a multidimensional construct comprising cognitive and affective ToM and interpersonal and intrapersonal ToM, each of which has differing neurophysiological/neuroanatomical foundations and behavioral manifestations. Clinicians working with persons with social communication/pragmatic communication disorders should consider evaluating these dimensions of ToM and the cognitive, social–emotional, and language components underlying them. Then they might use this information to develop a ToM profile for each client so they are better able to implement specific intervention strategies to target the linguistic and cognitive/affective foundations for ToM development. In this article, we describe the characteristics of developmental stages of affective and cognitive and interpersonal and intrapersonal ToM and how to match intervention goals and strategies to those stages. Some activities and strategies have empirical support; others are based on what is known about typical development and patterns of impairment.