The conceptual frameworks of self-management and correspondence training are combined to develop a self-talk intervention to improve academic performances of four students with emotional or behavioral disorders (E/BD). This study examines the functional role of language as a verbal antecedent or self-management prompt in relationship to subsequent academic responding and academic engagement. Four students with E/BD, aged 10 to 14 years, participated in treatments of self-talk, self-talk with reinforcement for correspondence, and self-talk with delayed reinforcement for correspondence. Results indicate effects for self-talk when paired with reinforcement that maintain across withdrawal and delayed conditions. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)