Theory of Mind in SCD

[5nomads]

My DS9 scored well below expected level on theory of mind test with a neuropsych. Besides reading and discussing books, what can I do to help him understand others' perspectives, opinions, etc? I was pretty surprised by his low score because he seems very empathetic in some environments. The foreign language immersion school that he attended for 1st and 2nd grades discussed/studied several different cultures/countries/holidays. My kids have been to several different churches of various denominations, have family who are Catholic, Jewish, Protestant. Up til now I assumed exposure would be enough. Clearly I was very wrong. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Lecka]

socialthinking.com

[albeto.]

Social stories and comic strips that you create for any given experience (past, present, future). When he's older, consider using R.O.P.E.S. for improved executive functioning. Lots of ToM stuff in there, too. 

 

[PeterPan]

I haven't done it (yet), but another would be RDI, which eventually leads into ToM.

[kbutton]

Casually, I think it's always a good idea to expose your own thinking process. It's also good to ask questions that he can handle about things that come up, see where he is, and try to stretch his thinking with more discussion or questioning. If he has some off the wall reactions to things, such as mocking another point of view, realize that he is just trying to make sense of it and may not be aware that he is mocking. You can have conversations about how to respond to people when you think they've just said something that seems ridiculous to you. We talk to my son about how he does think differently from other people, and that it's okay. However, if we took a vote, others might think his ideas are unusual. So, we sometimes have to try to understand why others would prioritize things differently and come to different conclusions. We do this is a very matter of fact way, not drawing value judgments about what he prioritizes. We just talk about why that is. (For instance,  Whatever you do, you will want to be sure you aren't taking a conversational leap that is way beyond where he is, and you should not assume that he "just knows" certain things. Asking him questions in order to get a grip on his thought process is really helpful before you start trying to have stretching conversations. 

 

At 9, he's on the cusp of major changes. He could see big gains in these areas, or this could be the age where he starts to separate from his peers in these skills, falling behind while they move ahead. 9 is when it became clear that my son was struggling in these areas as well. Once we realized this was likely, we started asking him direct questions about all kinds of things, and he had so much going on inside that he didn't really share (which is good in one sense because he'd probably avoided a lot of conflict with peers!).

 

 

[Jennifer-72]

Teaching Theory of Mind and Big Picture Thinking are two books that were very helpful for ds.

[geodob]

One effective approach, uses role play.

Where they take on the role of another person.

Then try to act out how that person would react to a situation.

 

Using people that they know well.

Where they practice thinking from the position of the other.

[Lecka]

That is incorporated into a drama/acting/film-making program in my town, that is for middle school kids.  I hear good things about it.  There is a lot of built-in role-playing and discussion, but it is not really obvious that it is a "social skills program" to the kids who participate in it.  That is what I hear anyway.  

 

But I do hear good things about the role-playing stuff.  I hear it is helpful and also that kids are more likely to have buy-in and interest (compared to some options that kids who are in middle school might not be as interested in).