Acarlar, FundaKaysılı, Bahar Keçeli2022-06-282022-06-282012http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12575/82378This study examined the relationship between syntax, vocabulary and theory of mind in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and in typically developing (TD) children by utilizing the ex post-facto design. The participants were 30 children with ASD and 30 TD children whose Test of Early Language Development (TELD) expressive language age scores were at least 4 years old. In the ASD and TD groups half the children passed ToM tasks whereas half didn?t. Children with ASD and TD children were matched on mean length of utterance (MLU) and theory of mind (ToM) ability.ToM ability was assessed on a battery of tasks. Language assessment consisted of criterion referenced tasks of comprehension and expression of sentential complements with communication verbs, relative clause and belief term tasks. Language samples were also collected and analyzed for MLU, Number of Different Words (NDW), sentential complements, relative clauses, adverbial clauses and mental state vocabulary.The findings revealed that the children with ASD and TD children who passed ToM tasks performed similarly on language measures except the relative clause performance. Morphosyntax (MLU) is a particularly predictor of ToM performance in children with ASD and in TD children. Besides the relationship between language and ToM were, more evident in children with ASD than the one in TD children. Furthermore, the results suggest that the sentential complements (-DIK) was the strongest predictor in TD children?s ToM performance whereas in children with ASD, relative clause (-An) and sentential complements predicted ToM performance. Children?s use of mental state verbs and vocabulary (NDW) were not related to the performance on ToM tasks.The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.trOtizm spektrum bozukluğuzihin kuramıdoctoralThesis