Abstract

The concept of Theory of Mind ToM refers to the ability to put oneself in the other person’s place and be able to interpret beliefs, desires and intentions of others. The purpose of this research was to determine the relationship between the development of the language form and the ToM in children with mixed Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and children with typical language development because the literature on the topic is limited and it focuses mainly on children with autism. The research was carried out using a quantitative methodology, a non-experimental-cross-sectional design, and a descriptive and correlational scope. The instrument used to determinate the development of the language structure were Test de Procesos de Simplificación Fonológica (TEPROSIF-R) and Test de Comprensión Auditiva de E-Carrow (TECAL); meanwhile, to evaluate the development of the ToM were used Sally and Anne Task and Mentalization test. The sample consisted on 28 children with SLI (study group) and 28 children with normal language development (control group) from 5 to 6,11 years old. The results indicate that there is a relationship between the development of the ToM and the development of the structure of language in its expressive and comprehensive modality, mainly in children with Mixed SLI. From these results, it is concluded that it is necessary to intervene not only linguistic abilities but also those abilities related to ToM from the speech therapist tasks.