July 5, 2009

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?

8 comments:

Kelly said...

Those are adorable. She sounds like such a sweetheart!

Monica said...

I LOVE it!!! I'm still giggling over her finding her bare necessity's! And yes, Adam self-talks all the time, and I do find out a lot when I eavesdrop!! Though most of the time it's just what ever happened earlier in the day or week!

Wendy said...

Holy Mackeral its not good to self-talk in public.... I am in trouble..RAchel is in trouble... my entire family is in a lot of trouble and not all of us are chromosomally enhanced.... or are we?

Beverly said...

Noah is a self talker as well. He does it as he plays with his toys and dolls.

thanks for your comment on my blog!

Crittle said...

Nothing to add on this topic for me yet, but I did leave you an award on my blog, just for fun.

Monica Crumley said...

Very funny. I didn't know that self-talking was common. I'm still waiting to hear "Mama". :)

Unknown said...

Loved reading this post. Thanks for sharing with us!

Anonymous said...

So glad to know it's not only Lily that does this. Lily has several husbands that we talks to!!! she has also taken on the characteristics of her teachers every year now since kindergarten. Her teachers rally need to watch it around her!!!