20102011
Building Comprehension through
Social Understanding (BCSU) in
Students with Autism Spectrum
Disorders
Center for Applied Special Technology
CAST
2010-2011
Table of Contents
BCSU Project Information ....................................................................................................................... 3
Project Team Information ...................................................................................................................................3
Project Advisors ......................................................................................................................................................3
Acknowledgement ..................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction to CAST’s BCSU Model..................................................................................................... 4
Overview of BSCU ...................................................................................................................................................4
Objectives of the BCSU Approach .....................................................................................................................4
The eBooks ................................................................................................................................................................5
Pedagogical Coaches ..............................................................................................................................................9
Other Ways to Support Reading Comprehension ........................................................................ 11
Suggestions for Supporting Executive Functioning ............................................................................... 11
Other Extension Activities ................................................................................................................................ 11
Foundations of Theory of Mind & Autism ...................................................................................... 12
Theory of Mind...................................................................................................................................................... 12
Theory of Mind & Autism ................................................................................................................................. 12
Foundations of Reading Comprehension & Autism .................................................................... 14
Reading Comprehension Strategies ............................................................................................................. 14
Foundations of Reading Comprehension & Autism............................................................................... 14
Sources of Comprehension Breakdowns ................................................................................................... 14
Training & Other Support .................................................................................................................... 15
CAST Profile............................................................................................................................................... 16
About CAST ............................................................................................................................................................. 16
Mission Statement ............................................................................................................................................... 16
CAST Website/Webpages ................................................................................................................................. 16
Technical Information........................................................................................................................................ 16
Appendix .................................................................................................................................................... 17
Typical Developmental Progression of Theory of Mind & Emotion Understanding ............... 17
Glossary and Acronyms......................................................................................................................... 19
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BCSU Project Information
Project Team Information
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Yvonne Domings, Ed.M., Principal Investigator/Project Director
Tracy Hall, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist
Peggy Coyne, Ed.D., Research Scientist
Mindy Johnson Ed.M., Instructional Designer
Vanessa Young, Director of Graphic Design and Illustration
Design Interns: Pamela Kramer, Mary O’Malley, Katie Dorr, Annabel Furber
Research Interns: Elisa Kramer, Annabel Furber, Katarzyna Derbiszewska, Rachel Davidson
Project Advisors
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David Rose, Ed.D.
Karen Miller, MD
Helen Tager-Flusberg, Ph.D.
Acknowledgement
The Building Comprehension through Social Understanding Project is made possible with generous
support of the Deborah Munroe Noonan Memorial Research Fund, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee.
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Introduction to CAST’s BCSU Model
Overview of BSCU
The BCSU project aims to develop pragmatic skills that lead to social and emotion understanding
(mind reading). Traditional literacy interventions and approaches assume a baseline socio-emotional
(theory of mind) understanding with which most typically developing students come to school.
These skills allow students to make inferences about the intentions, desires and emotions of others.
The BCSU approach is unique in that, it is a literacy intervention that addresses the autism-specific
deficits (socio-emotional understanding, imaginative ability) that are believed to be foundational to
theory of mind and reading comprehension. In this intervention, CAST’s work in UDL-based solutions
is extended to improve the lives of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families.
Objectives of the BCSU Approach
BCSU aims to:
 Exploit the connection between socio-emotional (theory of mind) development and reading
comprehension through a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) literacy approach.
 Improve development of theory of mind in students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
 Teach verbal students with ASD to become purposeful, strategic readers.1
 Teach the evidence-based comprehension strategies of predictions and making connections.
 Address reading comprehension deficits before they become a barrier to learning.
 Train educators in:
o The core components that make reading comprehension difficult for students with
autism;
o The latest research on how students with autism develop theory of mind skills;
o The ways in which educators can become selective and intentional in supporting
reading comprehension in students with ASD.
The BCSU instructional approach includes:
1. eBooks: Teacher conducted read-alouds.
Why? Guided reading of the stories helps to reinforce social understanding, presenting one
main concept in each story, but also building upon the concepts through each story.
2. Picture Sequencing (story retelling): Why? This helps build background knowledge of the
characters’ motives, emotions and desires by having the child become the character in the
story and, hence, build the ability to begin to make predictions, create mental models
(visualizing) and connections that relate back to the text.
3. Picture matching (thought bubbles): Match the picture with the correct thought or feeling
bubbles.
Why? This helps students practice theory of mind skills while supporting working memory
challenges (Bloom & German, 2000).
4. Video coaching (role playing and self analysis): Videotape and guided self-analysis
activities.
Why? The role playing will help building background knowledge of the characters’ motives,
1
According to the NRC (2000) “explicit or formal instruction in the application of comprehension strategies has been shown to be
highly effective in enhancing understanding.”
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emotions and desires by having the child become the character in the story and, hence,
build the ability to begin to make predictions, create mental models and connections that
relate back to the text. Video analysis helps to reinforce the social and emotion
understanding concepts being presented in the story.
5. Deceptive Objects: Discussion about objects that have a deceptive appearance (a pen that
looks like a flower; a fake apple; candy that looks like a bug or worm, a pencil sharpener that
looks like a toy car).
Why? There is some evidence to suggest that when children engage in discussions about
deceptive objects, they show improved scores on theory of mind measures (Lohmann &
Tomasello, 2003).
The eBooks
The eBooks can be read multiple times with an educator as part of guided practice and
independently at school or at home. They include leveled coaches that provide prompts, hints and
models designed to help the student focus attention on the critical features being presented. The
design of the coach scripts is based on social and emotional understanding and reading
comprehension strategies. Therefore, they also provide a model for teachers and parents that can
be used with any story or similar situation in the child’s environment.
The stories are broken into two levels: Level 1 and Level 2.
Level 1:
TIP: Reading Comprehension strategy: Making predictions
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Ask student what he/she thinks will happen next based on concrete, factual details (clues).
Consider writing the prediction down to assist with working memory.
Ask students to check whether his/her predictions were right or not.
Explanations and corrections should include “remember . . . ” while directing the student’s
attention to concrete clues that can help him/her with making an accurate prediction.
Level 1 stories focus largely on emotions and desires and how they impact the actions of the
characters. The clues that help predict emotions and desires are concrete and factual. Level 1 stories
have been written with simplified language and minimize the use of pronouns. Level 1 books focus
on the reading comprehension strategy of making predictions (Palincsar & Brown, 1984). For more
information see: NCREL: Palincsar & Brown
Predictions are educated guesses (hypotheses) about what will happen in a story. Good readers
make predictions in order to help them comprehend as they read. They stop periodically to check
their predictions. Predictions can be made before and during reading.
Predictions provide students with a purpose for reading and give students an opportunity to think
about what they already know. The process of making predictions also helps to engage the
student(s) in the reading to find out if their predictions are correct. Most students will need you to
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model your thinking aloud at first. Be sure to use concrete and factual clues as support for your
predictions during Level 1.
1. Begin the guided reading with a picture walk-through of the book.
2. Stop several times during a story to ask for a new prediction (what will happen next).
3. Be sure to ask students to explain their predictions as they become more capable in making
those predictions. Encourage students to use clues from the text and/or pictures to support
their predictions.
4. Stop periodically to check whether or not the predictions are correct and think about why.
5. If you find that this is too challenging, model your thinking aloud until students gain
confidence and skill.
Book Builder includes embedded coaches that provide guided prompts, hints and models of this
strategy when you and the students are reading. You can use them as a model to create your own
prompts, hints and models for reading other stories.
Go Archy
The goal of this story is to help students recognize emotion and understand that external
causes can impact emotions. In this story, Archy goes through several emotions as he plays a
video game.
2. A Trip to the Train Station
The goal of this story is to help students understand that an external cause as well as a
reminder can cause emotion. In this story, Jose has a bad experience at the train station.
Afterward, every time he sees a train, he anticipates that he will be frightened again.
3. Jack on a Mat
The goal of this story is to help students understand that desires impact emotion. In this
story, Jack wants to sit on the mat and read a book alone. Jack is annoyed when his friends
come to read with him on the mat.
1.
Additional Components
In addition to the teacher-guided instruction and independent use of the stories, the following
extension activities should accompany each book to complete the lesson:
Picture Sequencing (story retelling):
o Have the student sequence the pictures after reading the story.
o Use the pictures to have the student retell the story.
o Ask the student how he thinks the characters felt at different points in the story.
o Provide feedback with corrections “remember. . . ”
Picture matching (thought bubbles):
o Have the student match the thought or feeling bubbles with the correct picture.
o Talk about the clues that the student used to choose the correct bubble.
Video coaching (role playing and self analysis):
o Use a video camera to record the student(s) role-playing sessions.
o Have the student view the videos.
o Guide the student in the development of the social understanding and inferencing
skills, using the coach scripts as model.
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Deceptive objects (discussion):
o Use the flower/pen and apple decoration to prompt conversation about the objects.
Specifically, focus on the perspective shifts before and after the real identity of the
objects is revealed. For example: “At first, you thought it was an flower. Now you
know it is a pen.”
Level 2:
Reading Comprehension Strategy: Making Connections:
Be aware that readers with ASD can activate background knowledge, but need cues to apply it to a new
context. They also need cues to do so in a way that enhances comprehension:
 Ask students what they already know (from the story, from their own experience, from other
books they have read).
 Ask students what they want to know (the clues they will look for).
NOTE: Often, when ASD readers activate background knowledge, they can perseverate on irrelevant or
inaccurate knowledge, which negatively impacts comprehension (O’Connor & Klein, 2004).
Level 2 stories focus largely on the beliefs of the characters and how they impact the characters’
actions. They are written with a more complex language and use pronouns. Level 2 stories extend
the ability to make predictions moving from concrete and factual clues toward
more abstract clues (the thoughts and beliefs of the characters). They also focus
Use prompting
on the reading comprehension strategy of making connections.
questions such as,
In order to help them comprehend text, good readers make connections
between what they see and/or read to what they already know. This helps them
to make predictions. Readers make three types of connections as they read:
1. From the text to their personal experiences;
2. From the text to other texts they have read;
3. From the text to something that has happened in the world around
them.
“Why did the girl look
for the marble in the
basket?” The answer:
“Because she believed
(or thought) it was in
the basket and she
wanted to play with it.
At this level, it is important to use connections as clues to support predictions. At this second level,
clues should begin to be more abstract or implicit (thoughts, desires, feelings) and focus on how
they can drive actions (do you remember when . . . ; do you remember when Jose felt . . . ).
1. Begin the guided reading with a picture walk-through of the book.
2. Stop several times during a story to ask students to think about a previous experience, a
book they’ve read, or something they know about in order to make a prediction (what will
happen next).
3. Be sure to ask students to explain their predictions. Encourage them to use clues from
connections to self, other texts and the world around them to support their predictions.
4. Stop periodically to check whether or not the predictions are correct and think about why.
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5. If you find that this is too challenging, model your thinking aloud until students gain
confidence and skill.
Book Builder includes embedded coaches that can provide guided prompts, hints and models of this
strategy when you and the students are reading. You can use them as a model to create your own
prompts, hints and models for reading other stories.
For Goodness Sake, Jake!
The goal of this story is to help students understand that reminders impact emotion. In this
story, Jake gets a shiny, new red truck, but loses it and is constantly reminded of his loss,
which is upsetting to him. In addition, Jake’s mother has her own emotions as a result of
Jake’s loss.
5. Unthinkable
The goal of this story is to help students understand that people can have alternate beliefs
and these beliefs impact emotion differently. In this story, Megan is waiting for her friend to
come for a play date. Her mother believes that Megan’s friend is not going to come,
whereas Megan believes otherwise. The alternate beliefs cause different emotions in Megan
and her mother.
6. The Sneaky Switch
The goal of this story is to help students understand that a deception and, hence, false belief
can impact emotion. In this story, Leon switches sandwiches on his sister Katya, who refuses
to try a new kind of jelly at lunchtime.
4.
Additional Components
In addition to the teacher-guided instruction and independent use of the stories, the following
extension activities should accompany each book to complete the lesson:
Picture Sequencing (story retelling):
o Have the student sequence the pictures after reading the story.
o Use the pictures to have the student retell the story.
o Ask the student how he thinks the characters felt at different points in the story.
o Provide feedback with corrections “remember ....”
Picture matching (thought bubbles):
o Have the student match the thought or feeling bubbles with the correct picture.
o Talk about the clues that the student used to choose the correct bubble.
Video coaching (role playing and self analysis):
o Use a video camera to record the student(s) role-playing sessions.
o Have the student view the videos.
o Guide the student in the development of the social understanding and inferencing
skills, using the coach scripts as model.
Deceptive objects (discussion):
o Use the flower/pen and apple decoration to prompt conversation about the objects.
Specifically, focus on the perspective shifts before and after the real identity of the
objects is revealed. For example: “At first, you thought it was an flower. Now you
know it is a pen.”
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Pedagogical Coaches
The embedded coaches help to highlight critical features in the text and illustrations and activate
background knowledge by making implicit information explicit. In essence, as O’Connor and Klein
(2004) suggest, the coaches reveal the “hidden curriculum.” The coaches offer different types of
support and different levels of challenge.
Although the coaches address different aspects of emotion understanding
or comprehension (see below), they follow a predictable sequence
throughout all of the books. This predictability is deliberate in order to
minimize anxiety and maximize engagement, a common issue for
students with ASD.
The coaches are designed to follow a prompt hierarchy from least to
most restrictive. The coach on the left always prompts the reader with a
question; the coach in the middle provides the reader with a hint about
how to answer the question; the coach on the right provides a model
response to the question.
The coaches scaffold the
reader’s application of
information to ambiguous
text by prompting reader
to activate and use
background knowledge
(Wahlberg & Magliano,
2004).
Coaches can help prompt readers to:
 make desire and mental state vocabulary explicit;
 make context explicit (Wahlberg and Magliano, 2004);
 make anaphoric (e.g. pronouns) references explicit (Nation et al., 2006);
 make thoughts, feelings, motivations of characters explicit;
 integrate background knowledge (Wahlberg and Magliano, 2004);
 make personal connections;
 make predictions.
Meet the BCSU Coaches
Clicking on:
Prompt will provide the reader with a question that will help him/her engage with
the text.
Hint will give the reader clues within the text or illustrations that will help him/her
answer the prompt question.
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Model will provide the reader with a model answer of the prompt question.
During teacher guided instruction and use of the eBooks:
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Provide explanations of causal relationships.
Include talk that explains, spells out or contrasts characters’ invisible emotional and mental
states.
Talk about the student’s own mental state in an effort to create shared meaning and help
the student make connections between the text and his/her own experiences.
Talk about the mental states of characters including how emotion can impact their actions.
Focus attention on the different perspectives using desire (want, wish, feel) mental state
verbs (think, know, guess).
Encourage active participation in conversations about feelings and mental states (rather
than allowing passive exposure).
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Other Ways to Support Reading Comprehension
Suggestions for Supporting Executive Functioning
Research suggests that students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) struggle with executive
functioning (EF). Reading is inherently a goal-directed task, which places high demands on executive
functions. This may explain why it is hard for ASD readers to initiate the goal directed process of
integrating knowledge activated by the title of a story into the mental representation of a text.
Consider visual supports to manage the load on executive functions. Extension activities:
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Create comic-strip style visuals that show the sequence of events in a story—teachers could
use them as an additional support, or remove them if not necessary.
Utilize cueing strategies that correspond with Book Builder coaches, i.e. procedural
facilitation - prompting executive processes - rather than directly assisting students within
the content of the task (O’Connor & Klein, 2004). For example, the teacher can also coach
the student to identify the referent of a pronoun before continuing reading.
Create visual representations of executive processes involved in reading comprehension.
Students can use these visual representations as scaffolding (e.g. visual representation of
checking previous sentence for pronoun referent and then replacing pronoun with referent).
Other Extension Activities
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Create graphic organizers and have students use them to summarize a story.
o i.e. Thinking Maps or Story Grammar Marker
o See: http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/gen_act/pigs/story_mp.html
Use strategies for developing theory of mind in a variety of contexts (not just when reading
on computer, during a literacy block, or just in school).
Conduct a Emotion Wisdom Walk.
Create Book Builder stories about students’ real life social situations.
Encourage student-use of cards when they read. Teachers can cut these out and put them
on a ring for students to use while reading.
Utilize classroom peer tutoring and cooperative learning groups (Kamps, Locke, Delquadri &
Hall, 1989; Kamps, Barbetta, Leonard, & Delquandri, 1994; Kemps, Leonard, Potucek &
Garrison-Harrell,1995)
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Foundations of Theory of Mind & Autism
Theory of Mind
Theory of Mind (ToM) is defined as the ability to infer the full range of
mental states (beliefs, desires, intentions, imagination, emotions, etc.)
that cause action. An individual’s ability to think about what another
person is thinking helps one to better understand another person’s
behavior (Woods & Hare, 2009; Onishi & Baillargeon, 2005).
The ability to understand how a person’s false belief will impact his or
her actions is considered one hallmark skill to having a theory of mind.
One typical way to measure this is through a story known to
researchers as the Maxi task. In this task, children watch a puppet
named Maxi put a chocolate in a cupboard and then leave the room.
When Maxi is away, his brother Sam puts the chocolate in a different
cupboard. When Maxi returns, children are asked, “Where will Maxi
look for his chocolate?” (Wimmer & Perner, 1983 as cited in Harris,
2010). The correct answer—Maxi will look in the old cupboard—
requires the child to understand Maxi’s false belief.
Theory of mind helps
readers make inferences
and understand
figurative language—
factors that aid in
reading comprehension
(Williams, 2010).
Additionally, the ability
to think about what
another person is
thinking helps facilitate
complex human
behaviors such as
military strategies. It
allows for institutions,
such as governments, to
develop (Woods & Hare,
2009).
Most neuro-typical (NT) three to four year-olds answer that Maxi will look in the new cupboard, as
they are basing their reply on the current state of reality. By the age of five, however, NT children
will generally be able to base their answer on what Maxi believes to be true (Wimmer & Perner,
1983 as cited in Harris, 2010).
Theory of Mind & Autism
Children with ASD often have trouble completing the False Belief tasks, and thus demonstrate a
deficiency in theory of mind. Research suggests that they do not develop theory of mind as NT
children do (see appendix for the neuro-typical progression as outlined by research). While some
develop an understanding of false belief, they do not develop it in the same order as NT children do.
The exact reason for this is unknown, but since having a theory of mind requires the ability to
understand, imagine and make predictions, it is likely that the lack of these skills in children with
ASD (core deficits of ASD) will impact their ability to make inferences about the intent of others.
To help better develop Theory of Mind:
●
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●
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Research suggests that
training on emotion
understanding
improves students’
scores from pre to post
theory of mind tests
(Pons, Harris, &
Doudin, 2002).
Expose children to conversations rich in mental states language
(i.e. think, know, want, hope, believe) in order to promote
mental-state understanding.
Expose children to conversations in which varying perspectives
on a given topic are articulated.
Present objects with a misleading appearance
Make verbal comments on what people would say, think, and
know about the perceptible properties and the actual identity of the objects.
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●
●
●
Expose them to conversation rich in sentential complements. You can do this by talking
about scenarios like the one in the story or by talking about deceptive objects (e.g. a pen
that looks like a flower): What did you think this was? (a flower) But what was it really?
Discuss a story’s protagonists who have held false beliefs and provide corrective feedback.
Discuss a story’s protagonists who made false claims and provide correct feedback (Harris,
de Rosnay and Pons, 2005).
Recommended Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hLubgpY2_w&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjkTQtggLH4&NR=1
Other children’s stories and games that focus on or rely on building theory of mind
understanding (also see appendix):
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Little Red Riding Hood (red riding hood will think her grandmother is behind the door and
not realize it is the wolf)
Mysteries, stories about lost items, etc.
Hide and Seek (the hider has to understand what the seeker can see and where the seeker
might look in order to win)
20 questions (the person giving the answers has to provide answers that don’t give the
answer away, which requires theory of mind. If the answer is an object, a person with
theory of mind knows not to look at the object)
Cranium Caribou: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwLbIDh474Y
Game strategy in general requires you to have a theory of mind (poker, chess, etc.).
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Foundations of Reading Comprehension & Autism
Reading Comprehension Strategies
Good readers make use of certain strategies when they work to comprehend and make inferences.
Some of these strategies include making predictions about what will happen and how the characters
will react; checking their predictions as they read; asking clarifying questions; making connections
between the text and other texts they have read and/or their own background knowledge.
Foundations of Reading Comprehension & Autism
Reading comprehension deficits in students with ASD are increasingly being noted in the literature
(Hale & Tager-Flusberg, 2005). The United States Department of Education (2010) reports reading
skills for high school students with ASD average four years below grade
level and social skill deficits persist into adolescence and adulthood;
By definition, children
nevertheless, early intervention has been shown to improve outcomes
with ASD lack socioin students with ASD in general (NAC, 2009). The BCSU attempts to
emotional and
intervene early with students specifically in the area of reading
imaginative skills. These
comprehension before students are reading to learn (4th grade).
Sources of Comprehension Breakdowns
Students with ASD often fail to:
 Apply prior relevant knowledge to a new context (make
connections);
 Self-monitor comprehension (make predictions and check these
as they read);
 Repair text representations (O’Connor & Klein, 2004).
skills help children make
the connections and
predictions—two
essential strategies for
effective reading
comprehension.
To help students with reading comprehension:
You can model and later encourage them to:
 make predictions about what will happen and how the characters will react based on clues
in the story and then checking their predictions as they read
 ask clarifying questions when they don’t understand
 make connections between the book and . . .
 other books they have read
 their own background knowledge
 their knowledge of the world
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Training & Other Support
For Teachers:
Educators and paraprofessionals/teaching assistants will receive professional development and
materials that focus on how to use the BCSU instructional approach as part of their existing literacy
and/or social skills curriculum.
More specifically, teachers will:
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Understand theory of mind;
Understand how development of theory of mind skills differs in students with autism;
Understand how to encourage theory of mind development;
Understand the things that make reading comprehension difficult for students with
autism;
Learn to use the BCSU approach;
Explore the components of the BCSU approach.
In order to gather anecdotal reports of improvements in theory of mind and reading
comprehension, the CAST staff will also observe the implementation and provide feedback to
participating educators. This will include,
1. Monthly meetings: These will provide the opportunity for
additional coaching in the instructional approach, as well as a
forum for teachers to ask questions, to reflect on the teaching
strategies and to share ideas.
2. Monthly classroom observations: This will allow us to develop
field notes.
Monthly meetings
will help us
determine how well
the project is going.
3. A structured observation protocol: This will be administered twice per phase, for a total of
four times across the study to determine variations in implementation and contextual
factors influencing student learning outcomes.
4. A follow-up interview with teachers will be conducted in June: This will help us gain
feedback as to the practical feasibility of the intervention.
For Students:
All students will have bi-weekly teacher-guided instruction with the
electronic versions of the BCSU books. They will engage in activities based
Encourage students
on the stories including picture sequencing, picture matching, role playing
and parents to use
the story, videotape self-analysis of the role-playing component and
the eBooks at home!
comprehension strategy instruction. In addition, students will have access
to electronic and print versions of the books with embedded supports.
The BCSU books should be made available on the computer at the literacy center in the classrooms.
For Parents:
Interested parents will be provided with a one-hour presentation on the BCSU approach, ideas for
ways that they can help their students develop emotion understanding and theory of mind at home
and information about how they can access and use the web-based books at home.
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CAST Profile
About CAST
CAST is a nonprofit research and development organization that works to expand learning
opportunities for all individuals, especially those with disabilities, through Universal Design for
Learning (UDL).
Founded in 1984 as the Center for Applied Special Technology, CAST has earned international
recognition for its innovative contributions to educational products, classroom practices, and
policies. Its staff includes specialists in education research and policy, neuropsychology,
clinical/school psychology, technology, engineering, curriculum development, K-12 professional
development, and more.
Mission Statement
CAST’s mission is to expand learning opportunities for all individuals, especially those with
disabilities, through the research and development of innovative, technology-based educational
resources and strategies.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational approach with three primary principles:
 Multiple means of representation, to give diverse learners options for acquiring information
and knowledge,
 Multiple means of action and expression, to provide learners options for demonstrating
what they know,
 Multiple means of engagement, to tap into learners' interests, offer appropriate challenges,
and increase motivation
CAST Website/Webpages
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BCSU: http://bcsu.cast.org (BCSU project website)
CAST: www.cast.org
CAST Learning Tools: http://www.cast.org/learningtools/index.html
National Center for UDL: http://www.udlcenter.org/ for additional UDL resources
Technical Information
As part of our pledge for continuing, on-going support, please feel free to contact us with any
questions, comments, or concerns you may have: ydomings@cast.org
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Appendix
Appendix A. Typical Developmental Progression of Theory of Mind & Emotion Understanding
Recognition of emotion (in self and then in others)
By approximately 3-4 years of age, children start to be able to recognize and name emotions on the
basis of expressive cues. For example, most children of this age can recognize and name facial
expressions of the basic emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, and anger) when presented as pictures
(Bullock & Russell, 1985; Cutting & Dun, 1999; Denham, 1986; Dunn, Brown, & Beardsall, 1991;
Hughes & Dunn, 1998; Rothenberg, 1970).
External causes impact emotion
By approximately 3-4 years, children begin to understand how external causes affect the emotions
of other children. For example, they can anticipate the sadness another feels at the loss of a favorite
toy or the happiness another experiences when receiving a gift (Barden, Zelco, Duncan, & Masters,
1980; Cutting & Dunn, 1999; Denham, 1986; Borke, 1971; Fabes, Eisenberg, Nyman, & Michaelieu,
1991; Harris, Olthof, Meerum Terwogt, & Hardman, 1987; Hughes & Dunn, 1998).
Reminders impact emotion
Between 3 and 6 years: Children start to understand the relation between memory and emotion.
For example, they increasingly understand that the intensity of an emotion decreases with time and
that some elements of a present situation can serve as reminders that reactivate past emotions
(Harris, 1983; Harris, Guz, Lipian, & Man-Shy, 1985; Lagattuta & Wellman, 2001; Lagattuta, Wellman,
& Flavell, 1997; Taylor & Harris, 1983).
Desires impact emotion
By approximately 3-5 years, children begin to appreciate that people’s emotional reactions depend
on their desires. They can therefore understand that two people may feel a different emotion about
the same situation because they have different desires (Harris, Johnson, Hutton, Andrews, & Cooke,
1989; Yuill, 1984).
Belief (true or false) impact emotion
Between 4 and 6 years, children start to understand that a person’s beliefs, whether false or true,
will determine his or her emotional reaction to a situation (Bradmetz & Schneider, 1999; Fonagy,
Redfern, & Charman, 1997; Hadwin & Perner, 1991; Harris et al., 1989).
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Appendix B. ToM Games, Toys, and Stories
Theory of Mind Games
Hide and Seek
Guess Who
Guess Where
Caribou Cranium (modified)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwLbIDh474Y
20 Questions
Hide The Button (or any other object)
I Spy
Pretend play (pretending an object or an action is something else than it really is)
Imitation Games
Follow the leader
Simon Says
Theory of mind toys
Realistic deceptive food (e.g., plastic ice cream)
Other deceptive objects (e.g., erasers that look like other things, rocks that have secret compartments)
Theory of Mind Contemporary Stories
(1st grade)
Frog and Toad series
Ivy and Bean
Margaret and Margarita: Margarita and Margaret
There is a Bird on Your Head!
Widget (false belief?)
Clementine
The Hundred Dresses
The Stories Julian Tells
Minnie and Moo and the Case of the Missing Jelly Doughnut
Young Cam Jansen & The Lost Tooth
I Lost My Bear
Tawny Scrawny Lion (deception)
So, What's it Like to Be a Cat?
(2nd grade)
We Are Best Friends
My Dad's a Birdman
A Fine, Fine School
Get Ready for Second Grade, Amber Brown
Mr. Peabody's Apples (based on a 300-year-old Ukranian story)
The Little Prince
The Worst Witch at School
The Seven Treasure Hunts
Theory of Mind Classic Stories
Little Red Riding Hood
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Hansel and Gretel
The Frog Prince
Beauty and the Beast
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Glossary and Acronyms
ASD—Autism Spectrum Disorder: Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are pervasive developmental
disorders that are characterized by atypical development in social interaction, communicative
behaviors, the use of imitation, and symbolic play (APA, 1994). In 2009, the CDC reported that 1 in
110 children have an ASD and that the prevalence is currently increasing at a rate of 10-17 percent
annually.
BSCU—Building Comprehension through Social Understanding: An instructional approach that
brings together the work on theory of mind and emotion understanding, evidence-based practices
for teaching students with ASD, evidence-based practices for teaching reading comprehension and
the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (Rose & Meyer, 2002).
Clarifying talk: narrative clarifications of desire and emotion or mental states that include
explanatory, causal or contrastive information about mental or emotional states (Slaughter,
Peterson and Mackintosh, 2007).
EF—Executive Functions: Various types of brain processes that aid in planning, abstract thinking,
cognitive flexibility, and also help trigger appropriate behaviors while inhibiting inappropriate
behaviors. Executive functions also help filter out important sensory information (Stuss & Knight,
2002).
FB—False Belief: having a belief that differs from reality. To understand false belief, you know that
a person not only has a false belief, but also that this belief will cause you to act in accordance with
it. Most children with autism and non-signing deaf children show delays in false-belief
understanding (Meristo et al, 2007; Peterson, Wellman & Liu, 2005; Farrant, Fletcher & Maybery,
2006).
Sentential complements include an embedded clause that can be contrary to the rest of the
sentence such as: She thought that there were some M&Ms in the box, but there were pencils. The
embedded clause (there were pencils) is contrary to the first part of the sentence (there were
M&Ms). This construction is used only with communication and thinking verbs and is used to
communicate false belief.
ToM—Theory of Mind: a complex set of socio-emotional skills that allows a person to take the
perspective of others. To have a theory of mind is to understand another’s mental and emotional
state and use it to predict the knowledge, behavior and emotion of the other (Premack and
Woodruff, 1978). It is
UDL—Universal Design for Learning: an educational approach that provides all individuals equal
opportunities to learn. The three primary principles are:
I. Multiple means of representation, to give diverse learners options for acquiring
information and knowledge,
II. Multiple means of action and expression, to provide learners options for demonstrating
what they know,
III. Multiple means of engagement, to tap into learners' interests, offer appropriate
challenges, and increase motivation
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