Just listen to your mind: Consequences of theory of mind development for deaf or hard-of-hearing children.
Teaching deaf or hard-of-hearing kids to understand others' minds and handle criticism lifts both self-confidence and later literacy.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team followed deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) children for 20 months. They gave the kids a theory-of-mind (ToM) test and later checked language and literacy scores.
They also asked about sensitivity to criticism and academic self-concept to see if these linked ToM to reading.
What they found
Kids with stronger ToM at the start had better literacy a year and a half later. The path ran through two stepping-stones: handling criticism and believing "I can do school."
How this fits with other research
Hao et al. (2010) showed that deaf adults with little language can still pass implicit ToM tasks if they had rich early social contact. Smogorzewska et al. (2022) now push that idea forward: in children, ToM itself becomes a springboard for later literacy.
van Wingerden et al. (2017) and Barton-Hulsey et al. (2017) found that narrative skills and basic decoding predict reading in kids with intellectual disability. The new study adds ToM and self-concept to the predictor list for DHH students.
Eilon et al. (2025) saw that autistic children who grasp cognitive verbs like "think" tend to have stronger ToM. Together these papers build a chain: ToM supports verb understanding, self-concept, and finally reading.
Why it matters
You can boost reading long before phonics is mastered. Start with ToM games: false-belief stories, role-reversal, "what will she think?" Pair these with praise that teaches kids to see critique as helpful, not hurtful. When children feel smart and can read minds, they read books better too.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Previous research reveals relations between theory of mind (ToM) and cognitive outcomes, but mostly among typically developing children. AIM: To study these relations in children with developmental difficulties, this longitudinal study investigated the cognitive consequences of ToM in deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: One hundred and thirty-four (X = 9.2 years) participants were assessed in three waves, i.e., one wave every ten months. The participants completed the ToM scale, language and literacy skills (LLS) tests, the academic self-concept in language (ASC-L) questionnaire, and the sensitivity to criticism measure. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The results revealed that high levels of children's ToM ability predicted higher levels of LLS 20 months later. Mediators of this association were sensitivity to criticism and ASC-L. Controlling for LLS at T1, ASC-L at T2 mediated the relations between ToM and LLS at T3. Moreover, sensitivity to criticism predicted ASC-L, and sensitivity to criticism and ASC-L mediated the relation between ToM and LLS at T3. That is, children who were sensitive to criticism and held positive views of their academic self were also better skilled in ToM and in LLS. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Our results can help improve the education of DHH students.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2022 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2022.104261