The Development of Mental State Verb Use Among Autistic Children

These findings demonstrate the development of MSVs from all five semantic categories from the age of three years to the age of ten in autistic children. In addition, our results indicate a specific linguistic difference between autistic and TD children in the development of cognitive and emotion verbs, as was found in the MSV parental questionnaire. The study also highlights the role of syntax, TOM, and autism in relation to the development of these verbs, supporting the notion of complex developmental conditions associated with MSV development and, thus, the need to evaluate them in autistic children.