Communication systems and theory of mind

Abstract

This paper analyzes the results of eight studies relating to the achievements of hearing impaired children on standard tests of understanding of false notions. The results of these studies together, show that hearing impaired children that come from families where there are no cases of such disturbances have a tendency to adopt the theory of mind with delay. Based on their participation in verbal and non-verbal (use of gestures) communication with their families, three different groups of hearing impaired preschool aged children can be identified. The first group consists of children with a hearing impairment, who live with parents who are also hearing impaired so that they communicate with them using sign language, which secures quality non-verbal communication (with gestures) from a young age. The second group consists of hearing impaired children, who are thought oral speech with the auditory method and with the aid of hearing apparatus, so that they can speak and understand the speech of those in their surrounding area. The third group consists of hearing impaired children who are not trained to use oral speech, whilst having been trained to use sign language at the time when they started attending school, because their families was not trained to use gestures to communicate. The first two groups of children who have mastered the use of sign and oral communication, have shown significant differences in their results on the test of false notions in comparison to their peers who have not mastered either of the mentioned manners of communicating. The general conclusion of the formerly mentioned studies would be that the speech-language developed ness, as well as the ability and freedom of speech are factors which require communication within the family, which can be of particular importance for understanding thought processes.

Ovaj rad rezimira rezultate 8 istraživanja na temu uspeha koji deca oštećenog sluha postižu na standardnim testovima razumevanja lažnih ubeđenja. Rezultati ovih istraživanja zajedno pokazuju da deca oštećenog sluha iz porodica gde nema slučajeva ovakvih poremećaja imaju tendenciju da sa zakašnjenjem usvoje teoriju uma. Mogu se identifikovati tri različite grupe dece oštećenog sluha predškolskog uzrasta na osnovu učešća u verbalnoj ili gestovnoj komunikaciji sa članovima porodice. Prvu grupu čine deca oštećenog sluha, koja žive sa roditeljima oštećenog sluha tako da sa njima komuniciraju znakovnim jezikom što obezbeđuje kvalitetnu gestovnu komunikaciju od najranijeg uzrasta. Drugu grupu čine deca oštećenog sluha, koja su učena oralnom jeziku putem auditorne metode i uz pomoć slušnih aparata, tako da mogu da govore i razumeju govor okoline. Treću grupu čine deca oštećenog sluha koja nisu obučena oralnom govoru a znakovni jezik su usvojila tek u školi jer njihova porodica nije bila obučena gestovnoj komunikaciji. Prve dve grupe dece koja su savladala znakovni ili oralni način komunikacije, pokazala su značajne razlike u uspehu na testovima pogrešnih ubeđenja u odnosu na svoje vršnjake koji nisu dobro svaladali ni jedan od pomenutih načina komunikacije. Opšti zaključak prethodno spomenutih istraživanja bi bio da govorno-jezička razvijenost, kao i sposobnost i sloboda govorenja jesu faktori koji uslovljavaju komunikaciju u okviru porodice, što može biti od naročitog značaja za razumevanje misaonih procesa.