Visual Perspective Taking Training Improves Theory of Mind in Autistic Children.

This was a randomised controlled trial — people were assigned to treatments by chance, which is the most reliable way to tell whether a treatment itself caused a change.

The number of people who took part is not stated in this record, so the result cannot be judged on size.

The abstract does not include a conclusions section, so this page does not state what the researchers concluded.

This record does not state:

• the ages of the people who took part
• how long the study ran

This is a plain-language summary of one paper's abstract, not medical advice. Talk to your child's clinician before changing anything.

Journal: Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research

Year: 2026

Design: Randomized Controlled Trial

Intervention: theory of mind

Authors: Mi Tian, Shiyue Cao, Xin Li, Wenyu Xia, Him Cheung, Xuezhen Xiao, Tianrui Luo

Autistic children exhibit developmental differences in theory of mind (ToM), which is associated with social impairment. While numerous interventions have targeted other ToM precursor skills, few studies have explored the effect of visual perspective taking (VPT) training on ToM. The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of VPT training on ToM in autistic children. Sixty-six autistic children were initially recruited and randomly assigned to three groups. Forty-eight children (mean age = 5.75 years) completed the study and were included in the final analyses, comprising the VPT training group (n = 16), thought-bubble training group (n = 16), and control group (n = 16). Each training comprised 12 sessions of 30 min. Both the VPT and thought-bubble training groups demonstrated significant improvements in VPT and ToM compared to the control group. The present study is the first to directly examine the effectiveness of VPT training using table blocks in enhancing ToM performance in autistic children, thereby providing a novel approach for ToM development.

Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2026

PMID 42410944

DOI 10.1002/aur.70309

This record was extracted from the paper's PubMed abstract and metadata. Full-text methods and risk-of-bias details were not reviewed.