Theory of Mind Training and Autism Ranking:

Future Research

Summary of Existing Research

There is an extremely limited amount of research evidence of a sufficiently high quality to suggest that theory of mind training may provide some limited benefits to some autistic individuals. 

Fletcher-Watson et al (2014) reported that “... it may be possible to teach both Theory of Mind (ToM) and the precursor skills associated with the construct. However this teaching rarely or never generalises to novel contexts and it is unclear whether there is long-term maintenance of learnt skills, or developmental progression in learning.”

We have been unable to identify any personal anecdotes about the use of theory of mind training in autistic people.

Recommendations for Future Research

According to Fletcher-Watson et al (2014), “Future reviewers should consider investigating the results of multi-modal interventions ...  which teach a range of real-world social and communicative skills as well as academic learning. Given the problems with maintenance and generalisation of taught skills, multi-modal approaches may be more successful in improving social and communication outcomes in people with ASD.”

Updated

17 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Mar 2016

Next Review

01 Oct 2022