Reading a note, reading a mind: children’s notating skills and understanding of mind

Are children’s understanding of mental states (understanding of mind) related to their notating skills, that is, their ability to produce and read written marks to convey information about objects and number? Fifty-three preschoolers and kindergarteners were presented with a dictation task where they produced some written marks and were later asked to read them back. Understanding of mind was assessed using two tasks. Children’s name-writing and language skills were assessed as covariates. Children’s understanding of their own and other’s mental states was associated with their notating skills. Findings are discussed in light of the reciprocal writer-reader relation: keeping an audience in mind when writing and a writer in mind when reading. This reciprocal relation is central to writing and reading development.