Examining a premise underlying self-instructional techniques

Twenty learning-disabled (LD) children were administered the Matching Familiar Figures Test before they played alone in a room while their behavior and private speech were videotaped. Tapes were transcribed and coded according to activity level and the types and amounts of private speech used during play. Children used more Fantasy/Role-Playing speech than Regulatory or Affective speech. The speech of 10 of the children who had been diagnosed hyperactive was generally similar to that of the nonhyperactive children, although high activity level during play was accompanied by more private speech. Reflective children used Fantasy/Role-Playing speech more than did impulsive children. The premise that highly active or impulsive LD children show differences in their use of private speech as compared to less active and more reflective children, and that they thus could profit from techniques that try to modify self-directed speech, was supported.The authors wish to thank Barbara Alexander Pan and Karen Kudenchak-Kugel for their assistance in this project, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. A version of this paper was presented at the 1981 meeting of the American Psychological Association.