CASE STUDY: CHARACTERISTIC OF THEORY OF MIND IN HIGH FUNCTIONING AND BELOW AUTISM TEENAGER AT INDIGROW CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER

Diah Puspasari, Frandyka Dwiarma, Ika Rizki Ramadhani, Annisa Fitria, Rinna Sutiarny, Aulia Karuniati Ramadhan, Prima Desta

Flexi School Indigrow Child Development Center
Indigrow Child Development Center, Indonesia Jl. Haruman 35, Bandung, Indonesia

Abstract

Theory of mind is the cognitive capacity to infer other’s mental states which includes understanding of the thoughts and feelings of others. It is crucial for the development of social communication. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that significantly impairs children’s social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and behavior. The impairment of theory of mind may relate to autism, which is characterized by profound difficulties in social interaction and communication. The design used in this research was qualitative descriptive method with case study. The aims this study to determine the characteristics theory of mind of three teenagers with one high functioning autism and two below functioning autism, using five task scale of theory of mind. Result showed that there were differences in theory of mind characteristics. Teenagers with High functioning teens whose IQ was 70, successfully completed five tasks false belief: diverse desire, diverse belief, knowledge access, content false belief, and real apparent emotion. Meanwhile, below functioning teens with IQ 52 only passed diverse desire task and the other one with IQ 51 failed in all the task.

Keywords: case study, theory of mind, autism, high and below functioning autism