Theory of Mind in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children: A Systematic Review

Effective communication requires a level of shared understanding. Jones (2015) observes "an essential element to successful communication is the ability to make inferences about the psychological states of others and to predict or explain their behaviour with reference to their mental states, feelings, beliefs and desires" . Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to understand that the mental state of others can differ from our own. Many authors attribute the process of ToM to cognitive-conceptual changes tied to language development that occurs during the preschool years (Milligan, Astington, & Dack, 2007). As a whole, studies have found most typically developing children succeed at ToM tasks by 4-5 years of age (Leverez et al., 2012). However, Leverez et al. (2012) reports it is well established that children with severe-profound hearing loss exhibit a delay of 5-7 years in their ability to grasp beliefs of others. Currently there exists a moderate body of research examining ToM development in hard of hearing children. However, studies differ widely in terms of age of intervention, language abilities, lack of sample homogeneity, and quality of materials used