I remember asking this question when my son was little. My son, now 21 has Down syndrome and his hands would talk to each other, then it was little Disney figurines, as he got older and we tried to fade out the toys, Pete moved to pencils in each hand.
I remember being very concerned about it as he grew. For us, our biggest concern was that when in public, Pete would NOT do that1! But a funny thing happened about 4th or 5th grade. I remember trying to convince Pete that he could do his work, even though it was so hard (He was in a general education classroom for almost all of his day). So, I would say to him, "hey buddy, this is hard for forth graders, but they don't give up. You're a 4th grader now. You CAN do this." And a little while later I heard him saying... "I'm a forth grader, I can do this."
Pete still uses self talk, mostly in private or when he is on his own; But he also uses it very appropriately at times when after being reminded to do the dishes, I hear him say, "Wait a minute, this isn't a lot of dishes; this is easy, it won't take long."
But, I can't explain it nearly as well as an article that I have read from Disability Solutions Publications. I've put a link to it in my Great Links. And I've included the article in a tab at the top of this page with permission from Disability Compass. I hope it gives you a sense of understanding and peace as it did for me, years ago.
God Bless,
Kathy
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