Brain Talk: supporting
metacognition and
self-regulation
ByHannaBogen,M.S.,CCC-SLP
hanna.r.bogen@gmail.com
MS-22
CSHA2016
4/28/16 BRAIN TALK:
SUPPORTING METACOGNITION
AND SELF-REGULATION
Hanna Bogen, M.S., CCC-SLP
hanna.r.bogen@gmail.com
www.braintalktherapy.com
CSHA 2016
Group Plan
1. 
Common Language:
¤  Executive
functioning
¤  Self-regulation
¤  Metacognition
2. 
Why metacognition matters
3. 
Strategies to support metacognition
Executive functioning
Umbrella term to describe the directive capacities of
the brain that allow you to switch from “autopilot”
functioning to higher-order critical thinking
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 1 4/28/16 The Executive Functioning Oreo
¨ 
Self-regulation: inhibit the
impulse to react
¤  Requires
development of
metacognitive skills: react
vs. respond
¨ 
Strategic thinking: make
a plan to respond
¤  Must
be able to access
“mental graphic organizers”
¨ 
Self-regulation: follow the
plan
¤  Must
have motivation and
regulation to follow through
Many Curricula, Different Levels
Visual timers
Color-coded folders
Homework planners
Seeing My Time®
by Marydee Sklar
The CEO of Self by Jan
Johnston-Tyler
Sarah Ward
resources
Tools of the Mind
by Dr. Bodrova & Dr. Leong
Zones of Regulation
By Leah Kuypers
Alert Program
by Therapy Works, Inc.
Brain Talk
by Bogen & Lindemuth
Mental Time Travel
¨ 
A foundational capacity for self-regulation and executive
function thinking is the ability to use Mental Time Travel:
¤ 
Shifting between what you know from the past (i.e., hindsight),
and what you want/anticipate in the future (i.e., foresight), in
order to identify and evaluate options for what you can do right
now (i.e., motivating and organizing present action).
Copyright: Hanna Bogen & Carrie Lindemuth
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 2 4/28/16 Self-Regulation
Regulating your thoughts/attention, emotions, actions/
behavior, and motivation (TEAM) to reach your ultimate goals
(Lindemuth, 2014)
Self-regulation cont.
¨ 
Regulation of thought/attention involves:
¤ 
Modulating your major types of attention
Sustained: attending to a task for a sustained period of time
Selective/focused: attending to the most salient thing in the midst of
competing stimuli
n  Alternating: effectively and efficiently switching between stimuli
n  Divided: attending to two or more tasks at the same time
n 
n 
Self-regulation cont.
¨ 
Regulation of emotion involves:
¤ 
Adjusting your behavior, despite how
you may be feeling, in order to meet
the demands of the current situation or
environment
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 3 4/28/16 Self-regulation cont.
¨ 
Regulation of action involves:
Impulse control and the ability to insert the
“pause”
¤  Initiation control to start doing preferred
and non-preferred tasks
¤  Modulating one’s behavioral intensity
¤ 
n 
Not being an -er or –est kid
Self-regulation cont.
¨ 
Regulation of motivation
involves:
¤ 
Using intrinsic motivation (and sometimes
extrinsic motivation) to accomplish
ultimate goals rather than just working
for immediate rewards
Self-regulation cont.
¨ 
Ultimate reward
¤  The
long-term reward for a behavior
not be immediately apparent or experienced
¤  Drives expected behaviors and impulse control
¤  May
¨ 
Immediate reward
¤  Can
produce a huge dopamine spike at first, but then
immediate or delayed regret
¤  Often associated with unexpected behavior and may be
considered an impulse
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 4 4/28/16 Metacognition: What
Metacognition is awareness and
understanding of one’s own thought
processes.
Involves active control over the cognitive processes
engaged in learning
¨  Involves awareness of how you learn and process
information
¨  Involves understanding and application of strategies to
aid in learning and understanding
¨ 
Information from: Metacognition: an overview, by Jennifer Livingston, 1997
Image source: www.adinnerguest.com
Metacognition: When
You are engaging in metacognition anytime you…
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
Learn about and understand how your brain works
Engage in regular mindfulness practice (i.e., mindful moments) to
“insert the pause”
Identify your emotional state, as well as personal emotional
escalation clues
¨ 
Determine areas of personal strength and struggle
Identify triggers for personal dysregulation and brainstorm
proactive tools and/or solutions
¨ 
Self-reflect on personal performance
¨ 
Reflect on the usefulness and effectiveness of a strategy
¨ 
Image source: www.adinnerguest.com
Metacognition: Why
Metacognition matters in therapy because it…
Allows the student to understand why certain strategies
and tools are helpful
¨  Puts the student in the “driver’s seat” of learning
¨ 
¤ 
Knowledge is power!
Invites the student to self-reflect on how well tools and
strategies are working
¨  Externalizes challenges and deficits
¨ 
¤ 
I am not a disaster; I understand what is causing this challenge
Image source: www.adinnerguest.com
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 5 4/28/16 Metacognition: How
Any tool, strategy or intervention can
begin with a foundation of
metacognitive learning: “How is this
changing the way my brain learns and/
or processes information?”
Image source: www.adinnerguest.com
Strategies to Support
Metacognition
Rent-a-Lobe versus Build-a-Lobe
¨ 
¨ 
Rent-a-lobe approach: acting as your student’s frontal
lobe to manage a task and/or accomplish a goal
Build-a-lobe approach: providing scaffolded support in
order to help your student engage and improve his/her
executive function thinking strategies
OR
Source: www.spreadshirt.co.uk
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
6 4/28/16 Increase self-awareness of
sensory processing needs
¨ 
Teach students and/or support teachers in teaching students
about their sensory systems
¤ 
The more children understand their own sensory systems, the more effectively they
can acknowledge differences and/or regulate their behaviors
Mindful Practice
Mindful practice is:
¤  Exercising
your selfregulation muscle
¤  Pausing and paying
attention on purpose
Image source: www.mindnessinschools.org
Practice does not require maintaining a mindful state all the
time. Practice involves starting over…and over…and over.
Practice makes permanent, not perfect.
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 7 4/28/16 Mindful Moments
The goal for mindful practice
is to integrate mindful
moments throughout the day
Mindful Listening
¨ 
¨ 
Introduction to paying attention, in the moment, for a
purpose
Choosing to pay attention to a target sound instead of
everything else
¤  Notice
the start of the sound
the duration of the sound
¤  Notice the moment when the sound disappears
¤  Notice what you hear after the sound disappears
¤  Notice
Focus on the Breath
¨ 
Balloon breaths
Basket breaths
“Smell the flower, blow the candle” breathing
¨ 
Become a “sounding bowl”
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
Rhythm breathing (i.e., find your rhythm): inhale-pause-exhalepause
Add a challenge to breathing:
¤ 
“How few breaths can you take in one minute?”
¤ 
“Take a breath, hold it, take in more air, hold it…now slowly let it out like
you’re blowing through a straw”
Explore ready-made resources: Yoga 4 Classrooms
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 8 4/28/16 Belly Breathing
Body Scan with “Wave Breathing”
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
Have child mentally “scan”
his/her body, starting at the
toes
Once a tense spot is
identified, imagine the tension
as a tightly packed ball of
sand
Visualize each breath as a
wave gently passing over the
ball of sand, washing away a
little of the sand each time
Continue to breathe until the
tension is gone, and then move
on to a new spot of tension
Develop Self-Talk
¨ 
Help students develop their self-talk
Self-talk is the silent conversation you have with yourself to plan,
initiate, moderate, modulate, evaluate, and complete tasks
¤  We use self-talk constantly
¤  Some students are aware of their self-talk, but aren’t tuning in at
the right times
¤  Some students are unaware they have the ability to use self-talk
¤ 
¨ 
Introducing self-talk to students:
¤ 
May choose different presentation depending on developmental
level:
n 
n 
For early elementary students: sunny and cloudy thoughts
For older students: inner coach and inner critic
Consider how you can integrate self-talk into
classroom activities to support generalization
¨ 
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 9 4/28/16 Self-Talk cont.
¨ 
Self-talk can be a powerful motivator for students
to attempt tasks, even when they might be
perceived as challenging
¤ 
Attempting a new academic task
Acting as an upstander rather than a bystander
¤ 
Engaging with unfamiliar peers
¤ 
Performing in a sport, performance, or extracurricular activity
This is hard, AND I
Completing a difficult test
can still try!
¤ 
¤ 
Brain Learning Curricula
Structured Mindfulness Resources
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 10 4/28/16 Build Awareness of Distractors
Think
Socia
l’s Su
perfl
ex Cu
rriculum
Social Thinking’s Superflex Curriculum
Build Better Mental Schemas
Build Time Sense and Mind Sense
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 11 4/28/16 Favorite Books for Teaching
About the Brain
Increase Awareness of Emotional States
¨ 
Create visuals throughout to increase students’
awareness of emotional terminology and vocabulary
¤ 
Shades of emotion
¤ 
Emotion synonym/antonym activities
¤ 
Literature activities with emotions
n 
n 
¤ 
Personify emotions
Poetry and story telling with emotions
Emotional word of the week
A few points about emotions
¨ 
Emotions aren’t good or bad
¤ 
¨ 
Labeling emotions as “bad” can lead to a cycle of shame
and guilt
¤ 
¨ 
Better to call them comfortable or uncomfortable
It is inevitable to feel uncomfortable emotions during life, and it’s
better to approach them with curiosity and openness rather than
guilt for feeling “bad”
Many books, curricula, and emotional regulation activities
encourage “befriending” your emotions
¤ 
A mindful approach encourages non-judgmental curiosity towards
one’s feelings
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 12 4/28/16 Brain Talk: Metacognitive Curriculum
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
Brain Talk is a curriculum that provides the foundation of
metacognition needed to successfully complete the full Executive
Functioning Oreo.
Created by Carrie Lindemuth, M.Ed./ET and Hanna Bogen, M.S.,
CCC-SLP
Disclaimer: As co-creators of Brain Talk, Hanna and Carrie receive
financial benefit from the sale of subscriptions and curriculum-based
services.
www.braintalktherapy.com
Disclosure
As the co-creator of Brain Talk, I receive compensation
associated with the sale of Brain Talk subscriptions
and any trainings/consultation work associated with
the curriculum.
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 13 4/28/16 Thoughts, Emotions, Actions
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
Explore what the student knows and wonders about the
brain. Continually add to the learned column as you go!
Help the student identify thoughts, emotions, and actions
in a given situation (i.e., situational awareness).
Differentiate between thoughts and emotions AND show
connections between thoughts and emotions (I’m feeling
_____ because/when _____).
Model model model!
¤  Demonstrate
awareness.
the ways in which you engage in situational
¤  Demonstrate
how you adjust your behaviors according to
situational demands
Seek and Avoid: Limbic Impulses
Seek and avoid are survival impulses from the part
of our brains we share with simple mammals (i.e.,
limbic system).
¨  Teach seek and avoid with personal anecdotes as a
way to start developing metacognition: “What
triggers ‘seek/avoid mode’ for you?”
¨ 
¤  Example:
student having to do non-preferred task (e.g.,
practice musical instrument daily) versus preferred tasks
¨ 
In humans, seek and avoid are impulses that can
coexist; the strongest will “win out.”
¤  Examples:
roller coasters and scary movies
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 14 4/28/16 Myg the Amygdala
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
¨ 
Introduce the amygdala, its function, and how it can be beneficial
and/or not helpful (i.e., overactive) in the human brain.
For some students, you can explore the connection between Myg and
anxiety.
Explore the question: “What does fight/flight/freeze look like for
you? What triggered the impulse?”
The goal is to help the student acknowledge the trigger rather than
just the reaction (otherwise it’s a band aid approach).
Identify a Myg Moment nonjudgmentally, and follow with the
powerful question: “If you follow your fight/flight/freeze impulse,
then what might happen next/later?”
You are more likely to have the right regulating tools on hand if you
can anticipate the Myg Moment.
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 15 4/28/16 Buster the Basal
Pleasure-and-Reward Circuit
¨ 
¨ 
Introduce the basal pleasure-and-reward circuit, its function, and how
it can be beneficial and/or not helpful (i.e., overactive) in the human
brain.
Buster is a “crazy puppy” because it is impulsive, though it can be
trained!
¤ 
¤ 
¨ 
Understanding the dopamine reward system allows you to train it.
¤ 
¨ 
¨ 
Buster generates a grab-and-gulp impulse
“Doug the dog moments”/”Squirrel moments”
“Desert brain” or “Costco brain”
Identify a Buster Bam nonjudgmentally, and follow with the powerful
question: “If you follow your grab –and-gulp impulse, then what
might happen next/later?”
Every time you resist an immediate reward, you are building the
brain’s resilience and capacity for delayed gratification!
Meet the Human Brain
¨ 
Humans share their emotional, limbic brain with
simple mammals, and we have a “thinking cap.”
¤  Humans
have developed a more complex thinking brain
to manage their complex lives.
¨ 
Myg and Buster are located in the feeling brain,
and both can be “trained” to react less impulsively
through a variety of Taming Tools:
¤  Mindfulness
¤  Physical
exercise
social interactions
¤  Practicing gratitude
¤  Positive
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 16 4/28/16 Taming Tool Examples
*Mindfulness*
•  Mindful breathing, listening,
eating, movement, etc.
•  Progressive muscle relaxation
•  Visualization exercises
Exercise
• 
• 
• 
• 
Positive Social Experiences
•  Playing with friends
•  Successful group work
•  Team/group extracurricular
activities
Cardio-based activities
Yoga and stretching
éheart-rate breaks
(Non) Competitive sports
Gratitude Practice
•  Gratitude journal
•  High-Five Tool
•  Community service activities
(giving back to the community)
High Five Gratitude Practice
¨ 
The High Five
Taming Tool can
help to change
one’s brain
chemistry in the
moment of
uncomfortable
dysregulation
Ms. Hipp the Hippocampus
¨ 
¨ 
Learning from past experience (hindsight) is a huge
component of executive functioning.
The hippocampus is the personal memory center, so it records
the facts and feelings of an experience.
¤ 
¨ 
¨ 
Your personal memory center will prioritize the things that
seem(ed) most important to you.
Help students separate the feelings from the facts to allow
for a more accurate narrative of the event.
P.A.S.T. facts is a useful way to notice how people-/action-/
space-/time-based patterns can impact emotional
dysregulation.
Example: I get dysregulated every time I lose at kickball during
recess.
¤  Example: I lose me temper whenever I have to stop my video
game for dinner.
¤ 
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 17 4/28/16 Professor the Prefrontal Cortex
¨ 
The prefrontal cortex is the epicenter of foresight.
¤  Allows
¨ 
for mental time travel and “memory for the future.”
Students may need to be explicitly taught how to
identify an ultimate reward (vs. an immediate reward),
and determine options for achieving it.
¤  Prior
to starting a task or activity, ask the student to identify
what he/she is working to accomplish. What is the goal?
¨ 
For students who have difficulty “seeing” the ultimate
reward in the future, the intent is to expand the NOW
bubble to allow access to hindsight and foresight before
acting.
Becoming a Decider
¨ 
Brain Talk is the narrative of neural integration.
¤  Myg
and Buster need time to let Ms. Hipp and The
Professor know what feels uncomfortable/awesome.
¤  The Professor and Ms. Hipp work together to use what
you know from the past, and what you want in the
future, to determine options for what you can do right
now.
Self-regulation is the ability to “insert the pause”
between stimulus and response long enough to
decide how to respond rather than simply reacting.
¨  Strategic thinking is the ability to analyze the
current situation and determine the best response.
¨ 
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 18 4/28/16 Accessing Brain Talk
www.braintalktherapy.com
? Questions ?
Hanna Bogen, M.S., CCC-SLP
hanna.r.bogen@gmail.com
Copyright Hanna Bogen, 2016 19