Riferimenti a stati mentali nell'input rivolto a bambini con ritardo mentale e con sviluppo tipico.

Mental state talk is an important aspect of the Theory of mind, and it is interesting to study it trough input addressed to children with mental delay and with typical development. This study examines ten mother-child dyads: five with children with Down Syndrome (DS) and five with children with typical development (TD). Mental state talk utilized by the mothers is analyzed into physiological, perceptual, emotional, volitional, cognitive and moral terms. Results show that the mother of TD children utilize mental state talk and, in particular, cognitive terms, more frequently than the mothers of DS children. These results suggest that mothers of DS children utilize a simplified input, related to their children development level.