Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities

One of the central social deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is in Theory of Mind (ToM; Baron-Cohen, 2000). Integral to social intelligence and interaction, ToM is the ability to infer the perspective of another individual and understand that this perspective may differ from one’s own. In typical development, ToM emerges between 3 and 4 years of age, with most 4- and 5-year-olds being able to attribute a false belief to another individual and reason how it may affect his or her goals and actions (Wimmer & Perner, 1983). In addition, more difficult second-order false beliefs (i.e., John thinks that Emma thinks that...) are generally understood by chil-dren age 6 years and older (Perner & Wimmer, 1985). Children with ASD tend to perform very poorly on ToM tasks (Colle, Baron-Cohen, & Hill, 2007). Even if childre