ADHD and excessive talking-- what helped?

[Anonymous]

No change in meds, so what might cause an increase in talking for a child with ADHD? Excitement/nervousness about the new school year? Any ideas to help?

[Anonymous]

My kid is the same way and it's definitely worse since school started. Agree it's probably the excitement, only thing that works is for me to leave the room!

[Anonymous]

Medication got rid of my kid's non-stop talking. I still think it's so weird that an amphetamine would cause my hyper kid to calm down but it does. Maybe the medication is not the right one or the right dosage.

[Anonymous]

Puberty. My blabber mouth stopped talking so much once pubertt hit.
In the meantime find a good wine

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks to those who replied. Just seems like, in the past week or so, DS couldn't help but say every thought that came into his head. I usually love listening to his thoughts and ideas, but sometimes we're trying to leave the house in a rush, or someone else is trying to talk. I feel guilty when I ask him to stop talking so much. It was a little better today, though. I think the medication is just right, but we're having a rough go of things this past week. Suspect it's just the change of a new school year.

I'm so glad to have this forum to reach out to other parents of kids with ADHD. Our kids are amazing in so many ways, but some days are harder than others!

[Anonymous]

OP right there with you - we are seeing an increase in talking and hyperactivity more generally as school approached together with the stimulation of seeing DC's classmates via zoom after months of sequestration. Solidarity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Puberty. My blabber mouth stopped talking so much once pubertt hit.
In the meantime find a good wine

Yep.

-mom to a monosyllabic 15 yr old boy

[Anonymous]

I didn't see the age of your child.

I used to listen, or pretend to listen. Then I realized that I needed to train him to be a better conversationalist, take turns in speaking, teach him to pick up on social cues etc. These are life skills that will help him develop better relationships. Because peers aren't going to humor him, they will find someone else.

It sounds like he will need gentle but explicit instruction on this. You can point out how long he's been talking without a break, ask him if his listener looks engaged and why/not, did he give the other person a chance to speak, did he choose the topic, etc. Of course this needs to be done gently so you could use a lot of questions. Like sometimes I'm in the middle of something and DS will come in chattering, and I will say "does this look like a good time to start a conversation?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't see the age of your child.

I used to listen, or pretend to listen. Then I realized that I needed to train him to be a better conversationalist, take turns in speaking, teach him to pick up on social cues etc. These are life skills that will help him develop better relationships. Because peers aren't going to humor him, they will find someone else.

It sounds like he will need gentle but explicit instruction on this. You can point out how long he's been talking without a break, ask him if his listener looks engaged and why/not, did he give the other person a chance to speak, did he choose the topic, etc. Of course this needs to be done gently so you could use a lot of questions. Like sometimes I'm in the middle of something and DS will come in chattering, and I will say "does this look like a good time to start a conversation?"

Thank you. This is really good advice. I have tried gently telling him that conversations need to be roughly equal amounts of talking divided among the people in the conversation. It's a good idea to gently prompt him to read non-verbal cues.

[Anonymous]

I stop and remind myself that I'm getting paid back for my non-stop talking at the same age.

Then I call my mom and apologize.

[Anonymous]

OMG. The constant Nintendo and Minecraft talk drives me crazy.

Sometimes I need to just say, "I need you to stop talking for a little while."

[Anonymous]

I think this is often the impulsivity piece that can be part of ADHD and meds is what has helped my kid to settle that down some. He’s still very talkative but gives himself more an opportunity to think before speaking.

[Anonymous]

I can identify with so many of the previous posts! Medication has helped a lot as my child can better focus on conversational cues when the medication is active. Anxiety seems to play a role too, as others have suggested, so that is turned up a bit here at the start of the school year. And doing the Unstuck program helped us a ton in terms of parent coaching on this - we learned how to make the implicit explicit. As 17:34 noted, ADHD kids may not see the same cues that others see, so you have to pause and point them out, and model what to do next. It's exhausting, but effective over a longer time horizon. With time, our child (an only, so no outlets but us!), has learned not to take it so personally when we ask for quiet, and has learned we all need breaks and it's OK to ask for them.

[Anonymous]

I think it could be anxiety. My son talks an appropriate amount at home with our family, but has the excessive talking issue when he is out with his peers.

[Anonymous]

My teenage daughter does this mostly at night when medicine out of system and she is tired. It’s mind-numbing.