Talking Through the Steps

Your Child Will Learn

How to talk themselves through all the steps of a task.

Explain that sometimes when you’re trying to do a tricky task, you use “self-talk,” or saying the steps out loud to yourself in a quiet voice.
Complete a simple task, like sorting laundry or putting away dishes, while modeling self-talk.
Ask your child to complete a simple job, and narrate the job for them as they do it. Ask them to repeat words or phrases after you.
Encourage your child to practice using self-talk throughout the day. Narrate the tasks for them until they begin doing it on their own. Some great times to use self-talk:
- Putting away their coat/backpack/lunch box/shoes after school
- Picking up toys and putting them away
- Putting on clothes

PAUSE

ENGAGE

“Sometimes when I’m doing the dishes or folding laundry, I talk in a very quiet voice to remember what to do next. That’s called self-talk.”
“I’m putting away the dishes. First, I need to get all the plates and put them in a stack. Once I have all the plates, I’ll put them in the cabinet. Next, I’ll put away the silverware. Fork, spoon, spoon, knife…”

ENCOURAGE

Help model self-talk by narrating what your child is doing as they complete a task. Like: “Now you’re cleaning up your school stuff. The coat goes on the hook, so you’ll walk over to the coat rack and put it on the hook.”
Encourage your child to repeat self-talk phrases after you as they complete a task. Like: “Shoes need to go under the bench. Can you say: shoes, bench?”

REFLECT

Model self-talk throughout the day so your child can begin to understand what it is and how you use it.

Ask your child to talk through an entire task out loud as they do it.

They will be able to use self-talk to help them remember what to do.

10 minutes

Items to complete a simple task