Role-playing effect on ToM development with typically developing children and children with mild intellectual disability

Véronique PARDIEU, Associate professor, Université d'Orléans PAVeA (Tours) and ÉRCAÉ (Orléans) Laboratories, France

This research studies the effect of role-playing and debate on moral reasoning and Theory of Mind (ToM) development with 23 children (8-11 y.o.) and 19 teenagers (12-14 y.o) with mild intellectual disability and with 20 typically developing young children (4-5 y.o). Learning sessions including role-playing, miming and feedback were used to foster children’s understanding of intention in moral judgement and development of broader social skills such as Theory of Mind. The present study aims at proving that such sessions improve children's social behavior. Indeed, we hypothesized that moral judgment and theory of mind are linked and depend on age and intellectual development. For children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities, cognitive skills such as the ability to consider a person's intention and attribute thoughts, beliefs and emotions to self and others are impaired, and these are not fully functional for young children around 5 y.o. Throughout these  sessions, we sought to reduce the misunderstanding of social interactions resulting in inappropriate and aggressive social behaviors observed mainly among very young children and children with intellectual disability. Results confirm our hypothesis and show that role playing and feedback debate improve the taking into account of the actor's intention in moral reasoning as well as fostering ToM development.