Evaluation of gifted and normal development children in terms of theory of mind skills

The aim of this study is to develop a "Theory of Mind Assessment Tool" to evaluate the theory of mind skills of children aged 4-10 and to compare the theory of mind skills of normally developing children and gifted children by using the developed tool. In order to perform validity and reliability analysis of the developed Theory of Mind Assessment Tool, data were collected from a total of 235 normally developing children which are between the ages of 4 and 10. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) data adequacy value, approximately Chi-square and and Sigma value were calculated as 0.825, [x2(66)= 1952.263] and [p<0.05] respectively. Based on these values, it was concluded that the "Theory of Mind Assessment Tool" showed a valid feature. In the reliability analysis of "Theory of Mind Assessment Tool", internal consistency analysis was performed using the Kuder-Richardson (KR-20) method and test-retest reliability was checked using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) method. As a result of the Kuder- Richardson method, Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was calculated as α=0.897 (a>070), and as a result of the test-retest the lowest ICC was calculated as 0.764 (ICC>0.60). Based on these values, it was concluded that the "Theory of Mind Assessment Tool" showed a reliable feature with its sub-factors. In order to compare the gifted and normally developing children, which is the second part of the research, Theory of Mind Assessment Tool was applied to 61 normally developing children between the ages of 6-10 and 61 gifted children between the ages of 6-10 and the development of theory of mind skills was examined. The differences between the two groups were analyzed by chi-square tests. As a result of the analyzes; It was found that there were differences between gifted children and normally developing children for advanced theory of mind skills which are second level theory of mind skills and understanding of idiom and irony and these differences were in favor of gifted children.