6 yo talks nonstop

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I also believe in positive reinforcement. Is there any way to keep a 6 yo boy from talking literally all the time. I think it may be chasing some people away and when he's performing a task (like dressing for school) it interrupts his concentration. Any parents find any way to to communicate that it's alright to be quiet at times? I also know this is a way of stimming but I would love to learn how to help him. Paul

My son also talks nonstop, at six, we worked on talking softly. He talked endlessly, and I would say (not knowing about AS) "I am not really listening, are you talking to me?" and "Could you talk softly, please." He would talk endlessly even when alone, so we never really had the problem of needing to talk to someone. So, he would wander around the playground or sit in the car talking softly (mumbling) nonstop. If someone asked him what he said, he was to tell them "I'm pretending." This kept him from saying "I'm talking to myself." or launch into some one-sided explanation that they really didn't mean to ask about. If they asked what he was pretending or some other question, he was free to tell them. He also learned to say "Can I ask you a question?" when he really wanted us to hear what he had to say - although half the time, it was a statement, not a question. Although, now it is an odd script for him to ask "Can I ask a question?" in the middle of a conversation. at 11, He still loves to talk and will go on endlessly, but I think many of his dialogues are in his head as he does not mumble as much. Sometimes, when he is going on about minecraft or some cartoon, I will tell him "this does not seem very interesting to me, is there one part you want me to know about?" or "I am getting lost in your description, are you just wanting to talk about it, or is there something you want me to know about it?" Sometimes, I think I might hurt his feelings as he is just trying to share something he finds interesting with me, but the monologues can be tiresome.

Have you worked on Theory of Mind at all? Helping him understand that other people have different perspectives will be a good building block for helping him learn how to read other people and when they are listening or not.

This is a good book to get started:

http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Children ... 802&sr=1-7


If you need to move on to something and he is talking say, "I need to make dinner. Tell me 2 more things about it, and then you can have some time to play on your own."

This lets him know that you have something to do, gives him an exact ending point of he conversation, and kindly tells him it is time for independent play.


You can also do a social story about how to have a conversation with others and practice a more back and forth conversation. Using characters to model appropriate and inappropriate behavior may be helpful as well.

We have this same problem, and our son is the same age (6.) He talks non-stop at home and non-stop at school. Some of it is scripted pretend play, some of it is Aspie style brain dumps. Some of it is he needs/wants to hear himself talk. This is very hard. He has no theory of mind at all, and little emotional awareness. We make compromises similar to what was suggested.

We are currently trying to get him to respect when my husband and I want to talk for a bit, without him interrupting with one of his pretend play scripts. He will stop and wait when asked, (for a little while) but does not recognize to wait his turn at conversation on his own. Does anyone know if this a phase they go through at this age?

Teaching Children With Autism to Mind-Read : A Practical Guide for Teachers and Parents - the reviews say the book should say "for children 5 and under" . Does anyone have a similar book for an almost 7 yo with great verbal skills. Thanks

My son is 9 and he used to talk a lot more than he does now but he has his times where he will still talk about his interests non stop. The only time it annoys me is when we are watching a movie he has the habit of asking "why did he do that?" or "Why did he say that". I always tell him "Hunny, I did not make this movie" .

He does what we call "Playing in his head" (he made that up when I explained that he was playing but he was seeing things in his head when he played). I told him that I do the same thing but I dont "act" it out anymore although I sometimes will laugh, cry or make gestures when Im "playing" or writing in my head. I also told him that when his writing gets better he will probably like writing stories. Right now we will sometimes write short stories together, he tells me what to write and then he will draw the pictures.

The best thing to do is to keep your son occupied and to teach him to either "play in his head" (hopefully my son will learn more to play in his head than acting so much....those explosions can get really loud sometimes), or to talk to a stuffed animal or something like that. I know people worry about our kids getting picked on for talking to themselves or any of the other stuff they do that NT's dont understand and I explain to my son that if he does these things in front of other people they may laugh at him or make fun of him because they dont understand so if he wants to talk to himself or play in his head in front of other people he can either explain what hes doing or just put up with the teasing and ignore them. I try to teach my kids that what "mean" people think of them is not important, that those people are not important. The only time its a problem is when someone steals something from them or physically harms them. I tell my son if someone calls him a name or says something that hurts his feeling he can beat them up in his head which is what I used to do. You never want to really hurt someone or you are no better than they are but you can do anything you want in your head.

As far as talking and driving you nuts, you can ask him to write a report about what he is interested in or go look up things on the internet. My son has a fruit bat thing right now so he looks up things online about them and we found his some documentaries and shows about bats. I found him a video on youtube about a lady who saved some baby bats, I think he watched that about 200 times. Its good also to use the things he is interested in to help him with any problems he is having at school.

When you have Asperger's you just get so excited about your interest you want to share it with everyone because you think they should be as excited as you are. Its hard and I still get angry when people do not get excited about Orca's or my husband will tell me Im talking too loud (my volume goes up the more excited I get...my 21 year old daughter used to hate going out with me and my 19 year old daughter who also is an Aspie, we did the same thing...louder and louder and louder....she was always shushing us LOL).

Just try to nicely remind him that you are tired of that subject right now, if he gets upset tell him you understand how excited he is and promise him that you can look something up on the internet later about it or maybe get him a book. You may try a timer....like tell him he can talk for 10 minutes while you are making dinner and really try to listen, I know its hard but it will help him and make him feel good.

You are lucky you just have this problem, my Autie makes me recite movies with her and will have a serious meltdown if I dont say the right words....shesh! LOL....cant wait until we finish that sensory room!

I'm glad you posted this; my son does this (also chattering sometimes, sometimes just reciting echolalia/things from tv) and I thought it was an ADHD symptom.