Study finds it is good if children talk to themselves.

A good friend pointed me to a Dean's World post on an article about a study which found Preschool Kids Do Better When They Talk To Themselves:

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Parents should not worry when their pre-schoolers talk to themselves; in fact, they should encourage it, says Adam Winsler, an associate professor of psychology at George Mason University. His recent study published in Early Childhood Research Quarterly showed that 5-year-olds do better on motor tasks when they talk to themselves out loud (either spontaneously or when told to do so by an adult) than when they are silent.
"Young children often talk to themselves as they go about their daily activities, and parents and teachers shouldn’t think of this as weird or bad," says Winsler. "On the contrary, they should listen to the private speech of kids. It's a fantastic window into the minds of children."
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My daughters seemed, and still do, to talk all the time. I don't remember if they talked to themselves. As the foster care boy starts to talk, I guess we should encourage him to talk to himself.


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