This study looks into the “theory of mind” development of autistic children in Macao and tries to identify factors that influence the development of “theory of mind”. In this study, the researcher used the revised Scaling of Theory of Mind Tasks to examine the development of autistic children's “theory of mind”. The autistic children included in this test are compared against children with Down's syndrome and normal children of similar chronological age and verbal intelligence using the Scaling of Theory of Mind Tasks. The researcher also used the Childhood Autism Rating Scale to investigate the relation between Autism and “theory of mind”. There are 129 children included in this study:13 autistic children (12 boys; 1 girl), 12 children with Down's syndrome (7 boys; 5 girls) and 104 normal children (55 boys; 49 girls). The results of this study are as follow: 1.“Theory of mind” of autistic children is significantly lower than normal children and slightly lower than Down's syndrome children. 2. The autistic children’s(average chronological age is 8;6) “theory of mind” is similar to that of 3-4 year-old normal children. 3. The pattern of development of autistic children’s “theory of mind” is similar to that of normal children. For instance, they all developed understanding of various desires before getting to understand different beliefs. So autistic children do develop “theory of mind", though much slower. 4. The development of “theory of mind” might have relation to factors such as to what degree the child is autistic and the child's verbal intelligence Finally, the researcher puts forward some suggestions for teaching autistic and ideas for future research. Key word: Macao Autistic children Scaling of Theory of Mind Tasks Theory of Mind

本研究旨在探討澳門自閉症兒童“心理理論”能力的發展狀況及對其“心理理 論”能力發展產生影響的因素。 在本研究中，研究者利用修訂了的“心理理論”能力任務量表了解6-10歲澳門自 閉症兒童“心理理論”能力的發展狀況，並根據參與本研究的自閉症兒童的平均生埋年齡及語文智力水平，配對相若水平的唐氏綜合症兒童及心智正常兒童樣本，然後再對三者在“心理理論”能力任務量表上的表現進行比較，既從中了解三者“心理理論”能力的差異，也討論了自閉症兒童“心理理論”能力發展情況。與此同時，研究者也探討了語文智力水平與自閉症兒童“心理理論”能力的關係。另外，在本研究中還利用兒童自閉程度評量表(The Childhood Autism Rating Scale,CARS)探討自閉程度與自閉症兒童的“心理理論”能力的關係。 參與本研究的樣本共有129個，其中自閉症兒童13人(男12人;女1人)、唐氏綜合症兒童12人(男7人;女5人)，以及心智正常兒童104人(男55人;女49人)。 研究結果發現，自閉症兒童的“心理理論”能力明顯比心智正常兒童差，也稍遜於唐氏綜合症兒童，但自閉症兒童的“心理理論”能力並非完全的缺失，只是發展速度非常緩慢而已。研究結果也表明，本研究中的自閉症兒童受試者(平均生理年齡爲8歲6個月)的“心理理論”能力水平約相等於3-4歲的心智正常兒童水平，其發展規律與心智正常兒童相類似，都是先發展了對於不同慾望的理解及不同信念的理解。另外，本研究亦探討了與自閉症兒童“心理理論”能力的發展存在一定關係的因素。結果發現，自閉程度及語文智力可能對自閉症兒童“心理理論”能力的發展存在一定的相關。 最後，研究者就本研究所得到的研究結果及結論對自閉症兒童的教學及未來的研究提出一系列建議。 關鍵詞: 澳門、自閉症兒童、“心理理論”能力任務量表、心理理論”能力