We went to Dr. Amend for an eval about a month ago for my DS6. One of many things we discussed was my DS's tendency to repeat statements or questions, moreso when he is excited. Dr. Ed said that although he doesn't think DS has ADHD, the repeating may be some sort of "ADHD loop," that will eventually go away. I have tried looking this up to no avail. Can anyone give me an explanation of this, or give me a resource to read, please? Advice, etc. is welcome. Thanks. p.s. He has expressive language disorder, and non-spectrum.

Someone else may likely have a better answer but I'll take a stab at it. Looping thoughts can go around and around in a person's head like a circle. Just a guess but I'm thinking the connection would be related to the common problem in ADHD of hyperfocusing or having difficulty appropriately shifting attention from one thing to another.

Is there some way to help him out of the looping process for good? He also asks the same thing over and again without either listening, waiting for the answer, or knowing that he asked it out loud, possibly??? Anyone with similarities?

My dd5 I do not believe has adhd, but at this age she is doing a lot of asking a question over and over without actually listening for the answer...I have to really get her attention to even answer her (she may be too focused on the actual thing she is thinking about?)
Not sure, but might just be an age thing.
They way you describe it, though, it reminds me a bit of stuttering, and how to handle that: don't freak out/reprimand/raise your voice, just look at them calmly until they are done with what they are asking and then answer them as though nothing is wrong. Seems to downplay their own focus/anxiety over getting out the words/thoughts. If they are not even looking at you, a gentle hand on the arm might be all that is needed to let them know they have your attention.

Ok, I know that could be completely off base, but now that I've been struck with the similarity, I am going to start trying this with my kiddo to see if it helps.

My DS does this too. We've just done as Chris suggests, but I don't know if it is the best thing or not.

I hope the rest of the visit was more helpful....Call Dr. A back and ask him what he suggests you do in response to this behavior in the meantime.

It may be one of those 'trial and error' parts of parenting where you have to try a bunch of different things.
First you have to check and be sure it's a 'top priority' to have a plan about this....is this one of the top 5 disruptive things in your family?

If so, the first thing I would try is to 'reinterpret' the signal, since he clearly isn't asking for answer. Remember how when babies cry, one goes through the checklist? "Is he hungry, wet, pin sticking in him, hot/cold, tired?"

So I would write down a list, including all of the above of what your son's 'crying' might be a cue to remind you to do. I'd include all of the above, and add 'enough exercise, enough outdoors and sunlight, enough learning, enough service, enough skin contact, enough limits on screen time' and whatever else might apply to your individual child.

When he starts up, can you step away? Sounds so unpleasant!

So I would suggest translating the behavior into 'baby is crying and can't verbalize what is wrong - I'll go through my checklist and if nothing helps, I'll just assume he 'needs to cry' and use deep breathing to calm myself. No point in reinforcing this negative feedback loop with my own upset.'

More along the lines of Nurtured Heart Approach - try and out loop him! That is, you can try praising him 5 times an hour when he isn't looping,

as in

"I like the way you made eyecontact with me while you asked that question about trees."
"You paused after asking that question, that shows good respect. well done"
"You asked and then you waited before asking again - good job, that shows that you are in contact with me."
"You turned your head after your spoke, that signaled to me that you were ready to hear my answer, which included me. That shows the greatness of mutuality."

You can even verbalize this sort of thing when anyone does it, so he gets to really believe that you value reciprocal conversation.

You may need to write down a whole list of possible praises that are part of the opposite of what he is doing that is bugging you. Then use them over and over and over. And over. (Even though our kids learn somethings 'like magic' it's normal for a child to need many repetitions in order to learn.)

This will probably be enough on it's own, but after a solid month of barraging him with his good 'give and take' you will be able to effectively introduce him to the 'say it once only' rule, show him a handsignal that you'll give when his 'foot is on the line' and give a 2 second 'time out' when he breaks the rule, even the slighted bit. Then he has to do the deep breathing instead of you.

But my guess is that it won't have to go that far. Just the act of breaking down the unwanted behavior, and micro-noticing all the in-place components of the wanted behavior that he already possesses will probably be enough, if indeed it isn't a signal of a physical need.

And if he was just going to grow out of it anyway, at least you've had something interesting to do while you waited!!!! ((humor alert))

Love and More love
Grinity

http://books.google.com/books?id=n2...=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA

This snippet says ADHD phonological loop occurs because the working memory is trying to hold the sentence in order to process it, rather than as individual words.

Our ds 4.5 does this but I always thought it was due to his intensity. Maybe it's a processing issue? Interesting.

On a side note, we also have a ds6 and we are having him tested by Dr. Amend next Wednesday. How did your ds like him? I'm also wondering how long results take.

Thanks and I hope you got what you needed in your ds's evaluation.