Peer Interaction And Theory Of Mind Of Medium Intellectual Disability

Peer interaction is the communication process in which peers exchange ideas, convey thoughts, and express emotions and needs by using linguistic and non-linguistic symbols. Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to individuals' cognition about the psychological states (e.g. need, belief, intention, and sensation) of themselves and others and the ability to predict and interpret the relevant behaviours according to the cognition.The present study was to explore peer interaction, theory of mind, and the relationship of the two among students with intellectual disabilities. The sample consisted of 118 students with medium intellectual disabilities from three special schools in Shanghai. The students' peer interaction and their theory of mind were examined using Yuan Zhang's revised 'Peer Interaction Ability Questionnaire for Children of 4-6 years old '. The classical model in the ToM research was used to investigate the developmental status of the theory of mind of the students. The relationship between peer interaction and theory of mind was also explored. The findings are as follows.(1) Generally speaking, the scores on the peer interaction ability and the development of the theory of mind of 8-16-year-old students with medium intellectual disabilities increased with their age before they reached 13 years of age, but decreased with their age between 13 and 16 years of age.(2) There were significant differences among different age groups on the linguistic and non-linguistic dimension of the peer interaction ability only and the development of the theory of mind. But there were no significant gender differences on the peer interaction ability dimension and the theory of mind.(3) Peer interaction ability was highly correlated with theory of mind among 8-16-year old students with medium intellectual disabilities.The development level of theory of mind increased with the increase of the peer interaction ability of 8-16-year-old students with medium intellectual disabilities. Generally speaking, the development of peer interaction ability had an impact on the theory of mind; the development level of theory of mind among students with medium intellectual disabilities also had an impact on the development of peer interaction ability.