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Theory of Mind Training and Autism Ranking: Limited positive evidence

Key Features

Theory of mind training includes any form of instruction designed to teach people how to recognise mental states (such as thoughts, beliefs and emotions) in themselves and in other people.

Theory of mind training is also known as ToM training, mind reading training and mental state training.

According to Fletcher-Watson et al (2014), “Having a ’theory of mind’ may depend on developing related basic skills, including joint attention (sharing a focus of interest with another person), recognising other people’s emotions from faces or stories, and imitating other people.”

There are a variety of programmes which are specially designed to teach theory of mind including

  • The ‘Theory of Mind’ training programme which teaches small groups of children a range of theory of mind skills in highly structured sessions.
  • The ‘Thought Bubble Training’ programme which teaches children to visualise other people’s thoughts and emotions by imagining those thoughts and emotions as pictures or thought bubbles. 
  • The ‘Transporters’ programme which uses a DVD of animated vehicles, each of which has a face, to demonstrate what different emotions look like. 
  • The ‘Social Skills and Theory of Mind (S.S.ToM) Intervention Group Program’ which is a multi-component intervention that combines elements from social skills groups and theory of mind training.

There are also a number of programmes which are designed to teach the precursor skills of theory of mind (such as joint attention and imitation). 

Updated
17 Jun 2022
Last Review
01 Mar 2016
Next Review
01 Oct 2022