Theory of Mind

Theory of mind is attributing mental states to other people. The reason this is an abstract concept is because you can't see other people thinking. It is the distinction between what they do and what they think we do. This is something that we have to learn, not something that we are born with. I agree with some of the above posts. I think that Theory of mind is important to assess in children with Autism because if we can find some objective measurable behaviors to examine, then we as behavior analysts can look at whether or not this skill or skills are things that need to be taught to our students. I think it is wrong to assume that all children with Autism lack theory of mind which is why it is important to assess. 
With regards to the child pointing to the sweets cabinet, I agree with Naomi. I think that this is faulty stimulus control. The boy wasn't taught that he needed a communicative partner present in order to access the sweets. This means that this is not a function way of communicating for this child. Perhaps if the pointing was taught in a way that is similar to PECS (eventually teaching the child that he needs to seek out the communicative partner in order to ask for something that he wants) then this wouldn't have been an issue. If that was the case, would you say this child has theory of mind? I think that we need to find multiple ways to assess theory of mind, so that we can see the exact skill or skills that are lacking that we can then break down into a systematic way of learning for our students