Gao Zeying, Luo Huilin, Li Tianbi, Zhao Jing
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Department of English, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Xingangxi Road, Guangzhou, 510275, China.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2024 Jul 23. doi: 10.1007/s10803-024-06462-8.
The study aimed to examine the performance on linguistic and cognitive tasks among Chinese preschool children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and explore the direct and indirect relationships between theory of mind (ToM) and literal and inferential listening comprehension. Forty-nine (N = 49) children with ASD and fifty-two (N = 52) age- and gender-matched typically developing (TD) children participated in the study. All participants were administered tasks evaluating their listening comprehension of literal and inferential statements, ToM, as well as verbal and nonverbal IQ. Results showed that the ASD group performed statistically worse on listening comprehension, ToM abilities, verbal IQ, and nonverbal IQ than their TD peers. Further, we found statistically significant correlations between general ToM performance and overall listening comprehension among Chinese preschool children with and without ASD. More specifically, ToM abilities of children with ASD had an indirect effect on their literal listening comprehension via the mediation of verbal IQ, whereas ToM performance among TD children predicted their literal listening comprehension via the mediation of nonverbal IQ. The major findings were discussed in detail based on the situation model. The research facilitated insights into listening comprehension among Chinese preschool children with and without ASD, providing their caregivers and teachers with viable strategies to improve their listening comprehension.
该研究旨在考察患有和未患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的中国学龄前儿童在语言和认知任务上的表现，并探究心理理论（ToM）与字面和推理听力理解之间的直接和间接关系。49名患有ASD的儿童和52名年龄及性别匹配的发育正常（TD）儿童参与了该研究。所有参与者都接受了评估其对字面和推理陈述的听力理解、ToM以及言语和非言语智商的任务。结果显示，ASD组在听力理解、ToM能力、言语智商和非言语智商方面的表现比其TD同龄人在统计学上更差。此外，我们发现，在患有和未患有ASD的中国学龄前儿童中，一般ToM表现与整体听力理解之间存在统计学上的显著相关性。更具体地说，患有ASD的儿童的ToM能力通过言语智商的中介对其字面听力理解产生间接影响，而TD儿童的ToM表现则通过非言语智商的中介预测其字面听力理解。基于情境模型对主要研究结果进行了详细讨论。该研究有助于深入了解患有和未患有ASD的中国学龄前儿童的听力理解情况，为他们的照顾者和教师提供可行的策略来提高他们的听力理解。
