A Relationship between Theory of Mind and Pragmatic Language in Adolescents with Mild Intellectual Disabilities

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of pragmatic language ability, which is known to be closely related to the performance level of mind-reading ability of adolescents with mild intellectual disabilities, the theory of mind, and the relationship among them. Methods: A total of 40 (20 adolescents with mild intellectual disabilities aged 19-21 years; 20 children with language age-matched) participated in this study. Mind-reading ability and pragmatic language ability of adolescents with mild intellectual disability and those of children with language age-matched were evaluated and compared. Results: The adolescents with mild intellectual disabilities showed significantly lower performance in mind-reading ability and pragmatic language ability when compared to the control group. Among subtasks of pragmatic language ability, only nonverbal communication was positively correlated with faux pas of mind-reading ability. Conclusion: The present study suggests that mind-reading ability can be related to pragmatic language ability in adolescents with mild intellectual disabilities. We believe that current findings support to understand essential Knowledge required to develop and establish language intervention and communication-related assessment tools that encompass the mind-reading ability of adolescents with mild intellectual disabilities.