Developing Inner Speech to Help Autistic Individuals Improve Their Self-Regulation Ability: A Pilot...

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Autistic children frequently experience challenges with emotional regulation.
• Emotional dysregulation can significantly impact an autistic child's well-being and development.
• Inner speech is a cognitive tool that may aid in emotional self-regulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the Thinking in Speech (TiS) intervention for reducing emotional dysregulation in autistic children.
• To investigate the potential of developing inner speech as a therapeutic strategy for emotional control in autism.
• To assess the feasibility of remote delivery for TiS therapy.

Main Methods:

• A pilot study involving 22 autistic children.
• Random assignment to either an immediate therapy group or a waitlist control group.
• Sixteen remote 30-minute sessions of Thinking in Speech (TiS) therapy administered over 8-10 weeks.
• Parental ratings of emotional dysregulation using validated measures before and after the intervention.

Main Results:

• Significant reduction in emotional dysregulation on the Emotion Dysregulation Inventory-Dysphoria Scale (p < 0.01).
• Marginally significant improvement on the Emotion Dysregulation Inventory Index Regulation Index-Reactivity Scale (p = 0.089).
• The findings suggest a positive impact of the intervention on emotional regulation.

Conclusions:

• The Thinking in Speech (TiS) intervention shows potential as a method to decrease emotional dysregulation in autistic children.
• Developing inner speech may be a viable therapeutic target for improving emotional control in this population.
• Remote delivery of speech-language pathology interventions is feasible and effective.