Perspective taking ability is an important influencing factor on the development of children’s social skills, but the perspective taking ability of children with special needs may be characterized differently due to their physical and mental developmental deficiencies. By combing and analyzing the relevant literature on perspective taking in children with special needs, this paper finds that existing studies have focused on four aspects: the overall level of perspective taking in children with special needs, the influencing factors of differences in the level of perspective taking, the assessment and measurement of perspective taking, and the intervention for the development of perspective taking ability. This paper reviews the four aspects of these studies and makes recommendations for future research and educational interventions on perspective taking in children with special needs. Further research is needed to focus on qualitative research methods to complement existing research findings and to develop effective intervention strategies for children with different special needs.

children with special needs; social perspective taking; visual perspective taking; affective perspective taking

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