Self-Talk

Self-Talk is very common in the Down syndrome population, and boy does Hannah love it! If she has time alone, in her room, or in the bathroom, and even sometimes in the car, she will have conversations with herself. Sometimes she includes imaginary guests in her discussions (her sister, teddy bear, a friend, a TV character, etc). These conversations are fast and furious, covering a vast array of topics, complete with different character voices. Some times this is annoying to me. Other times it's just entertaining to eavesdrop.


Here's some that I picked up this evening while Hannah was finishing up her post-shower routine--this is about 90 seconds worth:


"Oh yes, The Lonely Goatherd is my absolute favorite, but I don't know about So Long, Farewell."


"Hey Diego, did you see my trophies? I have two bike trophies. I was on the Orioles team when I got my first baseball trophy. With my coach."
"You had a coach?"
"Yes, Coach Sandy. I am really good at hitting and batting and outfields and bases."

"Oh look! I found my bare necessity!" (I'm assuming she was joking about her undergarments.)

"My sister was a chicken."
"Your sister is a chicken?"
"Yes, she is. BOCK bock bock." (this refers to a family joke about a chicken)

"B-O-O that spells Boo! Whoa! Just like when a monster said, 'Bwahahaha' to Shaggy and Scooby. Shaggy was standing up and Scooby jumped into Shaggy's arms."
"Fred is the leader."

"Now who has time to bake cookies, little red hen?" "Me and my mom will bake them."


I'm glad that she can entertain herself, and she is completely aware that it's inappropriate to talk to herself when she's around others. Self-talk seems to be another way of processing information--sort of like a running dialogue of what going on in her head.


Anyone else have any good self-talk quotes?