Theory of mind in children with and without autism spectrum disorder: Associations with the sibling constellation.
An older sibling helps theory-of-mind in preschoolers with autism only if no other relative has autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team looked at 4- to 6-year-old children with and without autism.
They asked: does having an older brother or sister improve theory-of-mind scores?
Families were split into simplex (only one child with ASD) or multiplex (more than one).
What they found
Older siblings helped theory-of-mind only for typical kids and for autistic kids in simplex families.
In multiplex families, the boost disappeared.
The benefit was small and did not cover the full ASD group.
How this fits with other research
Berends et al. (2019) extends this picture. They also compared simplex and multiplex families. They found multiplex children scored higher on general thinking tests, but this edge was not because parents had practice from raising an older child.
The two studies fit like puzzle pieces: sibling presence helps social thinking in simplex homes, while multiplex homes show a different kind of strength.
Rutherford et al. (2003) is a predecessor. That early work showed pretend-play delays in autistic preschoolers were driven by theory-of-mind gaps, not memory problems. Stephens et al. (2018) now adds that a sibling can close part of that gap, but only in simplex families.
Why it matters
When you intake a new client, ask if the family is simplex or multiplex. If it is simplex, invite the older sibling into role-play or perspective-taking games. The small boost you see may be enough to lift baseline scores on ToM probes. In multiplex families, do not count on the sibling effect; plan extra peer or therapist modeling instead.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The two prior studies that have examined associations between the sibling constellation and theory of mind in autism spectrum disorder yielded discrepant findings. Thus, efforts to better understand the sibling-theory of mind link in autism spectrum disorder are necessary. This study examined a sample of prekindergarten- and kindergarten-aged (i.e. 4-6 years) typically developing children ( n = 39) and verbal children with autism spectrum disorder ( n = 61). Sibling presence, number of siblings, and having younger and older siblings were positively associated with theory of mind in typically developing children, but not in the full sample of children with autism spectrum disorder. However, in the subgroup of children with autism spectrum disorder without sibling recurrence, the presence of at least one older sibling was positively associated with theory of mind. Findings expand previous limited research on the sibling-theory of mind link in children with autism spectrum disorder by demonstrating a potential difference in the influence of the sibling constellation between children from simplex and multiplex families.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2018 · doi:10.1177/1362361316674438