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Preschool children's awareness of private speech

Florida International University, USA

Adam Winsler

George Mason University, USA

The present study explored: (a) preschool children's awareness of their own talking and private speech (speech directed to the self); (b) differences in age, speech use, language ability, and mentalizing abilities between children with awareness and those without; and (c) children's beliefs and attitudes about private speech. Fifty-one children between the ages of 3 and 5 completed a selective attention task from which a sample of private speech was video-recorded for use during a subsequent experimenter–child interview. Children also completed a standardized language assessment and a battery of mentalizing tasks. Roughly half of the children (54%) showed awareness of talking during the task, and 52% of the children who talked during the task stated that their speech was self-directed. Children who were aware of their private speech were significantly older, had greater expressive language skills, used more private speech, and had higher deceptive-box scores than children who were not aware of their private speech. Participants believed that private speech was positive and helpful. Implications of this work for researchers and early childhood educators are discussed.

Key Words: Awareness • preschoolers • private speech • self–talk

References

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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Manfra, L. Articles by Winsler, A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?