The study assessed Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities in a group of oral deaf children and in their hearing mothers using a battery of ToM tasks. It also investigated the connection between mother and child in ToM performance. Participants were: 17 oral deaf children (aged 5 to 14 years) were paired by gender, age, and mental age with 17 hearing children; 17 hearing mothers of deaf children and 17 hearing mothers of hearing children. Compared to the hearing children, the deaf children faced difficulties in all ToM tests, and the hearing mothers of the deaf children were less capable than the mothers of the hearing children in all the ToM tests. Further, a specific ToM interaction model was found between the hearing mothers and the deaf children. The results confirmed ToM poor performance faced by the oral deaf children, showed the ToM level of hearing mothers of deaf children, and the ToM style of hearing mothers–deaf children dyads. Also, findings underline some educational implications related to the socio-relational origin of the ToM deficit in oral deaf children.

Il volume intende fornire alcuni concetti chiave che la teoria dell’attaccamento ha sviluppato sulla relazione genitore-figlio, sia in caso di sviluppo tipico sia in caso di patologia o malattia infantile. In modo specifico, sono trattati i temi delle rappresentazioni mentali dei genitori e del processo di reazione alla diagnosi di disabilità o di malattia cronica del figlio. Il volume, inoltre, si propone di fornire alcuni strumenti operativi di analisi della relazione genitore-figlio. Saranno presentate due interviste rivolte ai genitori: la Parental Development Interview, che analizza le rappresentazioni mentali sulla relazione con il figlio e la Reaction to Diagnosis Interview, che analizza il processo di reazione alla diagnosi di disabilità o malattia cronica del figlio.

The present study analyzed the social-cognitive and social-perceptual components of Theory of Mind (ToM) comparing three groups of deaf adults to three matched hearing groups. The influence of verbal IQ was also investigated. Methods: The participants were 15 native signers, 15 late signers, 17 oral deaf adults paired by gender, age and mental age to 47 hearing adults. All participants completed the assessment of the two components of ToM and of the verbal IQ. Results: Late signers and oral deaf adults showed lower scores then hearing peers both in the social-perceptual and social-cognitive components of ToM. Native signers showed lower scores then hearing peers in the social-perceptual component. Verbal IQ was the predictor of the social-cognitive component for late signers and oral deaf adults, while it was not significant for the social-perceptual component. Conclusions: The findings yielded support for the two components of TOM and contributed to the extent of the existing literature on ToM in deafness