ASHA Learning Pass

Self-directed speech, or self-talk, can support preschool and school-age children’s executive functioning, but this type of non-social speech is often delayed in children with communication disorders. This session explores the link between self-directed speech and executive functioning and describes strategies SLPs can use to facilitate the use of self-directed speech during intervention to support executive functioning and reduce challenging behaviors.

This course is a recorded session from the 2022 ASHA Schools Connect online conference.

Related Courses

View all courses from the 2022 Schools Connect online conference.

Learning Outcomes
You will be able to:

• List child behaviors that may be linked to executive functioning and make service delivery challenging
• Describe a specific task or scenario in intervention in which self-directed speech could help improve a child’s executive functioning
• List three ways that an SLP could support a child’s use of self-directed speech in the scenario you identified

Presenter Information

Leah Kapa, PhD, is an assistant professor at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on language acquisition in children with typical language and developmental language disorder with an emphasis on the relationship between language development and cognitive development. She addresses questions on the directionality of the relationship between cognition, particularly executive function, and language.

Financial Disclosures:

• Full-time employee of the University of Arizona

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Assessment Type

Self-assessment—Think about what you learned and report on the Completion Form how you will use your new knowledge.

To earn continuing education credit, you must complete the learning assessment by the end date below.

Program History and CE Information

Online conference dates: July 13–25, 2022
End date: August 1, 2029

This course is offered for 0.1 ASHA CEUs (Intermediate level, Professional area).