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Self -talk

Anibal Dautant #3

Why use self-talk?

Often when dealing with students who

best ways to do this by practicing and

children with an LD because they tend

have been diagnosed with a Learning

encouraging positive self talk with

to reason that their lack of success is

Disability motivation can be a problem.

students. Doing this can have serve as a

due to things that they have no control

It is not because these students dont

huge boost to anybodys confidence,

over. Positive self talk lets students

have the ability to internally motivate

whether you are a child with an LD or

take control of their situation by

themselves but its because of the

you are just having a bad day and cant

reminding them that they are smart

untrue negative stigma that surrounds

seem to overcome an obstacle that day.

enough to do anything they put a

being labeled as a student that has an

The beauty of this strategy is that it

positive mindset to by encouraging

LD. As teachers and parents we must

doesnt need much supervision and can

themselves and reminding them of

do everything in our power to prove to

be implemented in any situation you

strategies that they can use to

our children that having an LD is not a

come across. Often when we come

accomplish the task at hand.

setback its just means you have to take

across difficult situations we tend to

a different route to reach your end goal

kick ourselves and think of reasons why

that isnt easier or harder for them

we didnt accomplish what we had set

compared to other students. One of the

out. This can be devastating cycle with

Who does this work for?

ADHD

Emotionally Disturbed

Learning disabilities

At risk children

Cognitive disabilities

Lorem Ipsum
Corral, N., & Antia, S. D. (1997).
Self-Talk: Strategies for
Success in Math. TEACHING
Exceptional Children, 29(4), 4245.
Englert, C. S., Raphael, T. E.,
Anderson, L. M., Anthony, H. M., &
Stevens, D. D. (1991). Making
Strategies and Self-Talk Visible: Writing
Instruction in Regular and Special
Education Classrooms. American
Educational Research Journal, (2). 337.
Kolovelonis, A., Goudas, M., &
Dermitzaki, I. (2011). The effects of

How to implement self-talk

in your classroom?

instructional and motivational self-talk

on students motor task performance in
physical education. Psychology Of
Sport & Exercise, 12153-158.

1.

Demonstrate a strategy that you want your students to apply

2.

Model positive self talk that a successful student would use such as, This problem can
be solved by using the correct strategy, I am more likely to get this problem right by

doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2010.09.002

double checking my steps, I have practice this type of problem before, or I know I
can do this because I am intelligent
3.

Demonstrate positive self talk when making errors or make a mistake on purpose so you
can demonstrate to students how its okay to make errors as long as you have positive
attitude that can correct these problems

4.

Allow students to periodically reflect tasks and reasons for their success or failure
through the use of self-reports or journals.

5.

Encourage students to keep personal records of the positive attribution statements they
make when working.

6.

Have students set goals and use goal statements by doing the following:
a.

KEY THING TO REMEMBER

The key to this exercise is that you as

the days assignment.

b.

that students are suppose to use

before hand so it is not a new task for
them. Remember its not a educational
strategy its an everyday strategy
therefore there is no specific
classroom that this can be done in
because it can be applied at anytime.

Self-checking test-taking goals, such as Check all basic operations when

finished, or Read the directions twice.

a teacher or parent have practiced and

demonstrated the correct strategies

Keeping a list of individual goals and reading them silently before beginning

c.

Using positive attribution statements for test-taking, such as I have done

problems like this before so I can think positively about these, or If I use my
strategies care- fully, I will probably be successful.