Research Findings: This study extends the understanding of the sibling effect on children's theory of mind (ToM) among Chinese preschoolers by adopting an ecological perspective. The participants were 225 Chinese preschoolers, comprising 100 children with siblings (M[subscript age] = 4.54 years, SD = 1.11, 55 boys) and 125 children without…

The present study applied Video Enhanced Reflective Practice (VERP) to promote and assess Finnish professionals' interactional competence by means of stimulated recall during three group-based shared review discussions. A VERP trainer guided the professionals to reflect on children's, their own, and colleagues' actions and mental states based on…

This study examined the natural social interest of 193 (95 boys, 98 girls) typically developing preschoolers aged 41 to 77 months (M = 61.71 months, SD = 8.48 months) toward their included peers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; N = 16, M = 66.8, SD = 8.80). A hierarchical linear model examined the role of endogenous (within-child) and exogenous…

Verbal interaction with others has been identified as an important forum for children's developing understanding of the thoughts and feelings of others -- their theory of mind. However, conversational interactions in settings and relationships important to young children beyond the home and family have received little attention in research…

This empirical study investigated the manifestation of prosocial sharing behaviours and how this interplayed with preschool-aged children's Theory of Mind (ToM), described in cognitive science as one's ability to ascribe mental states to others and how the ascribed states are used to explain and predict the actions f others, when using media and…

The ability to understand and effectively interact with others is a critical determinant of academic, social, and life success (DiPerna & Elliott, 2002). An area in particular need of scalable, feasible, usable, and scientifically sound assessment tools is social-emotional comprehension, which includes mental processes enlisted to encode,…

This study aimed to investigate whether: (1) the development of "theory of mind" (ToM) is associated with social competence; and (2) social peer play is also associated with social competence in young children. Associations between ToM task performance, frequencies of observed social and solitary free-play and parent-rated social…

This review of literature presents research about young children's (ages 2-8) early experiences with comprehension. Using a theoretical framework for emergent comprehension, the review demonstrates how each research study contributes to a holistic theory of emergent comprehension. Influences on emergent comprehension such as children's…