Table Of ContentSelf-talk during Planning and Problem Solving in Young Children with
Specific Language Impairment
Safiyyah Abdul Aziz
Master in Clinical Psychology
This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
of the University of Western Australia
School of Psychology
2015
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ABSTRACT
Self-talk is important for executive functioning, particularly planning and problem
solving, and self-regulation in children. Children with lower language abilities have
been shown to have impairments in planning and problem solving (Fernyhough &
Fradley, 2005). As language development in general is delayed or disordered in children
with Specific Language Impairment (SLI), it was considered likely that their self-talk
may also be impaired, with negative consequences for their planning, problem solving
and self-regulation. However, research on the self-talk of children with SLI is scarce.
Thus, the aim of this thesis was to examine the self-talk of children with SLI and to
design and implement a self-talk training programme aimed at improving the self-talk
of children with SLI. It was expected that any improvements in self-talk during
planning and problem solving would lead to a concomitant increase in the planning and
problem solving performance of children with SLI.
The first study reported in this thesis examined the self-talk of young children
(aged 4-7 years) with SLI (n=91) and age-matched typically developing children (n=81)
during planning and problem solving using the Tower of London (TOL), which is a
well-known executive functioning task that taps into planning and problem solving. We
also looked at a subset of children with SLI that has received very little attention, that is,
children with SLI with hyperactive and inattentive behaviours. There were (n=31) and
(n=11) children with hyperactive and inattentive behaviours in the SLI and typically
developing group respectively. We compared their self-talk and TOL performance to
children with SLI without hyperactive and inattentive behaviours and typically
developing children with hyperactive and inattentive behaviours. Results showed that
the children with SLI were not only delayed in their self-talk development and
internalization, but were also significantly impaired in terms of their planning and
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problem solving performance relative to their typically developing peers. In addition,
children with hyperactive and inattentive behaviours performed more poorly on the
TOL than those without hyperactive and inattentive behaviours, but only in the SLI
group. Children with SLI and hyperactive and inattentive behaviours were also found to
have more private speech than children without hyperactive and inattentive behaviours.
Having established a delay in the self-talk of children with SLI, we then
designed a self-talk training intervention programme aimed at improving the self-talk of
these children. The self-talk training programme: Talk to Think, is a play-based self-talk
training programmed based on Vygotskian principles of sensitive scaffolding during
planning and problem solving. The self-talk training programme is grounded on the
principles of interpersonal collaboration between the experimenter and children, using
play-based activities (Lego building) to enhance and develop self-talk. Verbal prompts
and leading questions were used to encourage children’s self-talk production and tasks
that provide an appropriate degree of challenge and are likely to maintain the interest
level of the children were selected. Children were divided into groups of three and had
ten, 30 minutes sessions of the intervention over five weeks with the experimenter.
Parental and teacher involvement were strongly encouraged to ensure continuity and
reinforcement of the self-talk training at home and in the classroom.
The effectiveness of this self-talk training programme for increasing self-talk
and subsequently improving the planning and problem solving performance of children
with SLI was assessed using a wait-list intervention design. The results demonstrated
that the training was effective in terms of increasing the amount of self-talk overall in
children with SLI, particularly their private speech. As predicted, there was a
subsequent increase in the planning and problem solving performance of children with
SLI after self-talk training, with the TOL scores of children with SLI no longer
significantly different from those of their typically developing peers. This indicates that
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self-talk training has the potential to enhance self-talk in young children with SLI and
improve their planning and problem solving and possibly their executive functioning
more broadly.
The findings from the studies reported in this thesis have a number of important
clinical and theoretical implications. These are discussed in the General Discussion
along with limitations and directions for future research.
Fernyhough, C., & Fradley, E. (2005). Private speech on an executive task: relations
with task difficulty and task performance. Cognitive Development, 20(1), 103-
120. doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2004.11.002
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………… i
Statement of Contribution……………………………………………………… ix
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………… x
Preface…………………………………………………………………………… xi
CHAPTER 1. Introduction and Literature Review…………………………… 1
Theoretical Background of Piaget and Vygotsky……………………………… 3
Developmental Origins………………………………………………………… 5
Age Related Changes……………………………………………………… 5
Microgenetic Changes……………………………………………………… 8
Functional Significance of Self-talk…………………………………………… 8
The Link between Self-talk and Cognition………………………………… 10
The Link between Self-talk and Self-regulation…………………………… 10
Self-talk in Special Populations……………………………………………….. 11
Self-talk in Children with ADHD………………………………………….. 12
Self-talk in Children with Autism………………………………………… 14
Self-talk in Children with Specific Language Impairment………………… 17
Self-talk Interventions………………………………………………………… 20
Meichenbaum’s Self-Instructional Training……………………………… 20
Critique to Cognitive-behavioural Self-instructional Training from the
Vygotskian Perspective…………………………………………………… 22
Vygotskian Inspired Self-talk Intervention………………………………… 24
Current Research ……….……………………………………………………… 26
References……………………………………………………………………… 30
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CHAPTER 2. Self-talk during Planning and Problem Solving in Children
with SLI and their Typically Developing Peers……………………………… 43
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………. 44
Introduction……………………………………………………………………. 45
The Present Study……………………………………………………………… 52
Method……………………………………………………………………………. 54
Participants…………………………………………………………………... 54
Tasks and Procedures……………………………………………………….. 56
Inter rater reliability………………………………………………………… 61
Results………………………………………………………………………….. 62
Group Comparisons on Matching Variables……………………………….. 62
Group Comparisons on TOL Performance…………………………………. 62
Group Comparisons on Self-talk during the TOL………………………….. 63
Hyperactive and Inattentive Behaviours and Performance on the TOL……. 67
Hyperactive and Inattentive Behaviours and during the TOL…………........ 69
Relationship between Self-talk and Item Performance on the TOL………... 70
Discussion……………………………………………………………………… 72
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………... 79
References……………………………………………………………………… 81
CHAPTER 3. Talk to Think: A Self-Talk Training Manual………………….. 93
Introduction……………………………………………………………………. 97
Vygotskian Foundations in the Talk to Think Programme…………………… 97
Meichenbaum’s Principles of Self-Instructional Training…………………… 99
Overview of the Talk to Think (T2T) Programme…………………………… 100
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T2T self-talk training for children……………………………………… 100
The key principles of T2T……………………………………………… 101
Building the therapist-child relationship……………………………… 103
Collaboration with teachers and parents during T2T programme………… 103
Outline of the T2T programme…………………………………………… 104
Week 1………………………………………………………………………… 107
Session 1…………………………………………………………………. 108
Session 2…………………………………………………………………. 108
Week 2………………………………………………………………………… 117
Session 3…………………………………………………………………. 118
Session 4………………………………………………………………….. 118
Week 3………………………………………………………………………… 123
Session 5…………………………………………………………………... 124
Session 6………………………………………………………………… 124
Week 4………………………………………………………………………… 127
Session 7………………………………………………………………… 128
Session 8…………………………………………………………………. 128
Week 5………………………………………………………………………… 132
Session 9………………………………………………………………… 133
Session 10………………………………………………………………. 133
References……………………………………………………………………… 136
Appendix A…………………………………………………………………… 138
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Description:the Language Development Centres, Anne Dunn and Mary Bishop whose support was Safiyyah Abdul Aziz, Janet Fletcher and Donna M. Bayliss.
