57

This cases study analyses Theory of Mind (ToM) development in two children with Down syndrome and in two normally developing children, matched on their developmental age. Their understanding of emotions and beliefs was assessed and also their cognitive development (by means of the differential scales of intellectual efficiency-revised version, Perron-Borelli, 1996), their language abilities (by means of a test of syntaxic-semantic comprehension, Lecocq, 1996). Inter- and intra-individual variability in ToM were examined in these children. Some similarities (emotions) and some differences (beliefs) were analysed qualitatively in referring to their abilities in cognition, in language, in temporal structuring and social understanding.