Communication Interventions Targeting Theory of Mind in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children

Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children are at particular risk of delays in the development of Theory of Mind (ToM) skills compared to hearing peers. One perspective links this to the development of social-cognitive abilities related to language acquisition (spoken language and/or sign language). Both ToM and language emerge from direct and indirect participation in communicative interactions. In this chapter we outline how ToM has several antecedent steps based in early interaction. The development of ToM leads on to many later important achievements during the school years. Research has also shown that intervention programmes can lead to improvements in ToM. In this context we describe the training programme The Mind Readers which aims to improve the development of ToM. The intervention targets ToM skills, emotion understanding, related sign and spoken language skills (on word/sign level, syntax, and conversation) in DHH children and young people.