While there is some evidence that ToM , or a precursor skill , can be taught to people with ASD , there is little evidence of maintenance of that skill , generalisation to other setting s , or developmental effects on related skills .
It is possible that the continuing refinement of the ToM model will lead to better interventions which have a greater impact on development than those investigated to date
BACKGROUND The ' Theory of Mind ' ( ToM ) model suggests that people with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ) have a profound difficulty underst and ing the minds of other people - their emotions , feelings , beliefs , and thoughts .
As an explanation for some of the characteristic social and communication behaviours of people with ASD , this model has had a significant influence on research and practice .
It implies that successful interventions to teach ToM could , in turn , have far-reaching effects on behaviours and outcome .
OBJECTIVES To review the efficacy of interventions based on the ToM model for individuals with ASD .
The development and evaluation of a computer-based program to test and to teach the recognition of facial affect
Autism is a chronic pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by the early onset of social and communicative impairments as well as restricted , ritualized , stereotypic behavior . The endophenotype of autism includes neuropsychological deficits , for instance a lack of “ Theory of Mind ” and problems recognizing facial affect . In this study , we report the development and evaluation of a computer-based program to teach and test the ability to identify basic facially expressed emotions .  10 adolescent or adult subjects with high-functioning autism or Asperger-syndrome were included in the investigation . A priori the facial affect recognition test had shown good psychometric properties in a normative sample ( internal consistency : rtt=.91-.95 ; retest reliability : rtt=.89-.92 ) . In a prepost design , one half of the sample was r and omly assigned to receive computer treatment while the other half of the sample served as control group . The training was conducted for five weeks , consisting of two hours training a week . The trained individuals improved significantly on the affect recognition task , but not on any other measure . Results support the usefulness of the program to teach the detection of facial affect . However , the improvement found is limited to a circumscribed area of social-communicative function and generalization is not ensured
While there is some evidence that ToM , or a precursor skill , can be taught to people with ASD , there is little evidence of maintenance of that skill , generalisation to other setting s , or developmental effects on related skills .
It is possible that the continuing refinement of the ToM model will lead to better interventions which have a greater impact on development than those investigated to date
BACKGROUND The ' Theory of Mind ' ( ToM ) model suggests that people with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ) have a profound difficulty underst and ing the minds of other people - their emotions , feelings , beliefs , and thoughts .
As an explanation for some of the characteristic social and communication behaviours of people with ASD , this model has had a significant influence on research and practice .
It implies that successful interventions to teach ToM could , in turn , have far-reaching effects on behaviours and outcome .
OBJECTIVES To review the efficacy of interventions based on the ToM model for individuals with ASD .