Ravānshināsī-i Afrād-i Istis̠nāyī (Sep 2013)
The Effect of Teaching Theory of Mind on Improvement of Cooperation, Self-Control and Assertiveness in 7- to 12-Year-Old Autistic Children from the Viewpoint of Mothers
Abstract
The present research aims to study the effect of teaching theory of mind on improvement of cooperation, self-control and assertiveness in 7- to 12-year-old autistic children in Tehran from the viewpoint of mothers. This was a quasi-experimental research with a pre-test and post-test design. The statistical population included all the 7- to 12-year-old autistic children in Tehran. Using convenience sampling method, 12 subjects were selected and randomly assigned into the two experiment and control groups. The research instruments were 38-item questionnaire of theory of mind and Gresham-Elliott Social Skills Rating System (1990). The data were analyzed using the methods of descriptive as well as inferential statistics (independent and paired t-test). The results showed that teaching theory of mind did not improve the extent of cooperation, self-control and assertiveness in autistic children from the viewpoint of mothers. In other words, there was no significant difference between experiment group and control group after the post-test was carried out (p>0.05). Therefore, it can be concluded that teaching theory of mind cannot improve the level of cooperation, self-control and assertiveness in the 7- to 12-year-old autistic children
