Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Talking in class - normal or time to worry/act?

This will be my youngest daughter. She's felt the need to verbalise every thought she has the second she has it from, well, birth. Her mouth does.not.stop. Fluid reasoning 150, fsiq 145, inhibition of urge to speak 0.

I have one with Aspergers and one with ADHD, so i know ehat girls look like with these issues, and although she is distractible (always by her urge to talk or socialize) I really think she's NT, just REALLY extroverted and verbal and in need of constant stimulation. And yes we are scared about school.

ConnectingDots, I can only speak with sideways experience - DS10 is quiet (at school!), but of his two best friends, one has a strong streak of "class clown", and the other sounds exactly like MumOfThree's DD above. Over the years, I have watched some teachers go crazy, and others do an excellent job of, shall we say, harnessing it for the power of good?

DS's clowning friend had a terrible year last year, finding himself in a completely quiet class where his behaviour was way off norm. Had he been in DS's class - where moving around and full group debate of big issues was the norm - he would have been great. Class composition and style can make a big difference.

Our non-stop talker friend has been in DS's class for six years running now. The good teachers have found him interesting things to talk about, let the two of them do a lot of group work, and generally found ways to make him talk about important things that were relevant to the class, in ways that weren't disruptive to the group at large. DS and this friend are usually intentionally sat together these days, as the teachers have found ways for it to strengthen the performance of both kids in class. When the friend was younger, teachers would sometimes give him a whiteboard, so that if he had a thought that had to come out *now*, he could write it down immediately, and share at a more appropriate time.

All that to say, maybe you can help the teacher find ways to channel it positively? And perhaps create protected spaces where he knows he will be able to let it out, and ways to divert the thoughts to something constructive in the meantime? (and maybe also recognize just how much of that PG brain is unoccupied by grade 3 art, even the interesting kind?!)

My DS talks incessantly in art class - he hates art - he hates the coloring, drawing, cutting and pasting of anything. He is usually done in under 3 minutes and spends the rest of the time talking and clowning with his neighbors. The teacher has to return the work back to him with specific instructions on how to color in more area on the paper or how to add more embellishment to his craft project etc. I tried to volunteer during art time last year to help out with that part of instruction. This year, I just let it go. If something is uninteresting to my child or if he is developmentally not ready to sit still and color and cut and glue and enjoy that process, then so be it. I have other issues about his education that I want to spend time worrying about

PS: he got a "below average" grade in art.

I don't know if this will happen with your dd or not, but fwiw my oldest dd fits the same profile re non-stop talking. TOTALLY drives me nuts at home lol! But for whatever reason - she's actually quite well-behaved and raises her hand to offer up information at appropriate times at school and up to this point (7th grade) has been the model student... so go figure. The minute I pick her up at the end of the school day the non-stop chatter (often about nothing) begins, and when she's hanging out with her friends it's like being amidst of cacophony of squawking seagulls or worse - they all talk at the same time and never give it a minutes rest. But she's happy, has a ton of friends, and manages to somehow appear totally normal (re talking) during the school day - so perhaps there is hope for your dd!

Best wishes,

polarbear

ps - her friends have discovered texting this year. You can not even begin to believe how that opens up the world of communication for a non-stop talker who has 900 best friends lol. On a positive note, our house sounds a lot calmer when she's busy texting

polarbear, so far daycare and preschool teachers love her, she's social, well behaved and bright, teachers dream child. So I had hoped we'd get your scenario... But the talking seems to be getting worse not better :-), I am pretty sure that if bored she will channel her intellect to talking to EVERYONE about EVERYTHING and ALL the time....