Affective and Cognitive Theory of Mind in Children With Intellectual Disabilities: How to Train Them to Foster Social Adjustment and Emotion Regulation?

Affective and cognitive Theory of Mind (ToM) is known to be deficit or delayed in children with intellectual disabilities (IDs), when compared with typically developing children matched for developmental age. Yet, little is known about causal contribution of affective and cognitive ToM on emotion regulation or social adjustment in these children. Studies that aimed to answer this problematic, implemented training focusing on the nine mental states – mainly on beliefs and emotions – and in toddlers and adolescents’ samples, rarely compared to control group. The present study aims at testing whether training ToM abilities notably affective and cognitive mental states in children with IDs could foster ToM, but also their emotion regulation and social adjustment. 30 children with mild or moderate IDs functioning at preschool developmental age, took part in a pre-test session involving measures on cognition and ToM. Teachers and/or parents completed questionnaires evaluating children’s emotion regulation and social adjustment. Secondly, children were allocated to control or experimental group which benefits from the specific “ToM program for children”. It was delivered in eight sessions, by an experimented searcher to sub-groups of three children. Finally, all children took part in a post-test session. Results showed significant improvement of affective and cognitive ToM abilities in children with IDs in experimental groups. After ToM training, they displayed a better understanding of cognitive mental states and of consequences of emotions. In post-tests, they are perceived as more socially adjusted by teachers

Training Social Information Processing in Elementary School Children With Intellectual Disabilities: A Key to Support Their Emotion Regulation and Social Behaviors

Children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) show deficits in social information processing (SIP) that increased the risk of social maladjustment. As social inclusion is a major preoccupation for professionals and parents, it is important to know how foster SIP among these children, in order to support their understanding of social situations, their emotion regulation and social adjustment. The present study tested the efficacy of a new “SIP program for children”, considering specific strengths and weaknesses of these children. It also explored the potential causal contribution of SIP in elementary school children with ID to their emotion regulation, social adjustment and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. 30 children between 5 and 12 years with mild or moderate IDs, took part in a pre-test session involving measures on cognition and social problem solving. Teachers and/or parents completed questionnaires assessing children’s emotion regulation and social adjustment. Secondly, children were allocated to control or experimental groups. Experimental group participated in the “SIP program for children”. It was implemented by two trainers which used the specific material and technics described by the program during eight sessions to sub-groups of three children. After, all children took part in post-test sessions. Results showed significant improvement of social problem-solving abilities in children of experimental groups. After SIP training, they easily judged social behaviors and produced more complex justifications related to social consciousness and social rules, in comparison to the control group. Parents perceived children who had participated in the training as more socially adjusted and teachers described them as more integrated, autonomous and cooperative. These children were also perceived as displaying fewer internalizing problems

II- Les relations internationales du Québec

Using an experimental approach, our study examined the differentiated effects on pre-schoolers’ social cognition of two short-term social information processing (SIP) and Theory of Mind (ToM) training sessions dealing with emotions and beliefs. The links between ToM, SIP, and social adjustment or externalizing behavior were examined. 47 pre-schoolers took part in a pretest session involving cognitive, socio-cognitive and social adjustment measures. The direct socio-cognitive measures involved tasks assessing emotion recognition, ToM emotions, ToM beliefs and social problem-solving. The teachers filled out a personality questionnaire and parents completed the Theory of Mind Inventory, a social adjustment scale and the CBCL. Secondly, they were allocated at random to two experimental groups (ToM training or SIP training) or to a control group. In the experimental groups, each of three children, short training sessions were given using educational materials. Free play was offered in the control group. Finally, all children took part in a post-test session. Our results showed significant improvement in ToM emotions for the ToM training group, in ToM beliefs for the SIP training group, and in social problem-solving for both experimental groups, and some transfer learning. In pretest, significant positive correlations were obtained between social cognition measures and individual characteristics, and between social cognition measures and social adjustment. Significant negative correlations were observed between social adjustment and externalizing behavior, and between social adjustment and emotional reactivity. This study provided some guidelines for formulating a medium-term training program in social cognition aimed at pre-schoolers at risk of displaying externalizing behavior disorders

Impact of Short-term Training in Social Cognition in Preschoolers with Externalizing Behavior

In two experimental and exploratory studies, we wanted to test the differentiated effects on preschoolers with externalizing behavior (EB) of two short-term social information processing (SIP) and Theory of Mind (ToM) training sessions, in comparison with typically developing (TD) preschoolers or with preschoolers with EB whom didn’t receive training. Firstly, nineteen preschoolers presenting a high level of EB problems took part in a pre-test session involving direct cognitive and socio-cognitive measures (assessing the understanding of emotions, beliefs and social problem-solving). They were then allocated at random to two experimental groups (ToM or SIP training) and compared to nineteen TD preschoolers who followed the same procedure. Four experimental groups, EB-ToM group (n=9), TD-ToM group (n=9), EB-SIP group (n=10), TD SIP-group (n=10), received short training sessions, which were given by group of three children. All children took part in a post-test session. Secondly, EB-ToM group (n=9) and EB-SIP group (n=10) was compared to a control group of preschoolers with EB problems (n =9). These preschoolers took part in pre-test and post-test sessions. Firstly, we tested whether the effectiveness of the training was specific to children with EB compared to TD children. Although improvement was obtained in typically developing children, larger improvements were found in the population with EB. Secondly, we compared the potential transfer of learning between the two types of experimental training in children with EB problems. Results showed some improvement in ToM and in SIP for both experimental groups. These studies provide some guidelines for training in social cognition aimed at preschoolers who are at risk of or have developed EB disorders

Publicar trabajos científicos

Taller Publicar trabajos científicos con Springer realizado en la UPV el 5 de julio de 2017Jacobs, N. (2017). Publicar trabajos científicos. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/84595

Publicar con Springer

Presentación realizada en la Universidad de Málaga, el día 23 de octubre de 201

Publicar con Springer

Taller para autores: publicar trabajos de investigación. 7 julio 2015. Organizado por Springer y la Biblioteca de la Universidad Carlos III de Madri

Penetration of plasma particles into different non-woven layers

By using a DBD plasma, several layers of PET non-woven are treated to study the penetration of plasma into the textile material. The influence of the pore size and of the power on the penetration effect is investigated. By using a horizontal wicking experiment, the plasma effect is quantified