The Developmental Trend of the Theory of Mind in Students with and without Learning Disability

Theory of mind in Children with learning disabilities should be considered, because the theory of mind can effect on social and cognitive behaviors. The aim of present study was exploring the developmental trend of the theory of mind in 8 to 11 years old students with and without learning disability.
This casual-comparative study was performed on 160 student of 8 to 11 years old (80 students with learning disability & 80 students without with learning disability) that studying in center for students with special needs and regular school and selected by stratified sampling with equal ratio. Steersman Theory of Mind test (1999) & Wechsler Intelligence Scale (1974) were used as measurement instruments. The collected data were analyzed using two- way ANOVA and tukey post- hoc test.
The results indicated that in both groups of students, the trend of development in the theory of mind with respect to age was progressive. However, it was revealed that it taken longer for the students with learning disability to reach to higher levels of theory of mind.
This study supports earlier findings that individual with Learning disabilities have difficulties attributing mental states in context.