I’m so tired and Gavin just won’t stop talking. Look, I’m so grateful that all my kids are verbal and I know how hard it can be when they aren’t because Emmett was nonverbal until he was almost four or five years old. We were told he would never talk, so to at least some degree, I get it.
Gavin is one of those bipolar kids that talk incessantly when they are manic.
My God, this kid hasn’t stopped talking today. He’ll disappear to his room for a bit and I get a reprieve but when he comes back, and he always comes back, he’s got all this stuff pinned up and then unleashes a flurry of scattered thoughts at me.
He’s in the kitchen right now making a sandwich. I can hear him chatting away, even though there’s no one there to listen to him.
I don’t know if he’s talking to himself or one of his hallucinations but he’s definitely talking.
Looks like I’m going to have to tap into my emergency reserve of patience today in order to make it through. I’m very cognizant of the fact that this isn’t his fault but that doesn’t really help my brain from wanting to explode. I’m really trying my best to be patient but it’s so exhausting.
Do any of you folks have a kid that’s an extreme chatty Kathy? Does it drive you crazy as well? Are they on the Autism Spectrum? Are they bipolar?
I’d love to hear from you and get a dialog going on this topic. Please leave your comments below or on social media where you found the link to this post. Your comments will all show up here, so be sure to check back.
Also, if your child in nonverbal, please don’t take offense to this post. My heart truly goes out to you. I’m simply wanting to discuss an issue faced by some parents of verbal kids.
My daughter is 17 and autistic and she absolutely does this. She usually follows me around the house doing it. I have her on Depakote because one of her manic episodes lead her to talking for 48 hours straight. This also included getting mad at my oldest daughter who was sleeping and yelling at her (in her sleep!). I completely understand what you are going through. I wish I could find a way to help her, but some days it seems as if there is nothing that does help.
Jr has his moments but usually it’s and argument on why he wants something!!!
I can totally relate Deb but you already know that. 🙂
Oh my God! I have the same. We find out next month what his basked of disorders are, but Autism and ADHD are definitely on the list. We have been visiting specialist now for 5 months, to funnel down a true diagnosis. It is insane. At 3, he talks from the time he wakes up until he is asleep. If he is nervous or reminding himself, he will repeat 40 or 50 times. Otherwise, he will hum, make random noises, and he used to squeal a high pitch but we have somewhat gotten that under control. He. Never. Shuts. Up. I could deal with all other issues, but the constant babble, and I mean there aren’t 6 seconds that go by where he isn’t making some noise drives me insane. I am an introverted mom, and the constant talking has driven me to a severe depression trying to cope. I am on the highest level of antidepressants and sometimes have to sit in front of my computer, put on my Bose headphones, and play music as loud as it will play. Meanwhile, he is trying to be louder. Talking on the phone, he attempts to drown out any conversation and screams if I go into another room to talk where I can hear the other party. He does this to my husband or anyone. If our family comes over, he attempts to drown out any conversation with his constant noises, phrases, or repeated statements. I am praying at our next meeting they will give him some sort of medication because my life is completely miserable as a result of his disorders. Important to note, we have 6 grown children. We also fostered 20 children and adopted this child from foster care. We had fostered him from birth, and he is now 3 yr, 4 months. We adopted him when he was 2. He had never spent a night in another home. The process of diagnosis is a long and intensive one, with AOS, Baileys, Wiss, and a plethora of other tests by different doctors followed by a panel meeting of the different administring specialists. We will finally get “results” at the end of March, again a 5-month process. I am so afraid they are going to tell us what we already know instead of offering real help. It has to get better than this.
So I read your last comment first and this one answers my questions from the first. Active noise canceling is a requirement for any headphones I use because sometimes it’s the only quiet I get during the day. I jokingly, commented that it’s the only way I can pretend I don’t have kids for a little while.
The reality is, what you’re dealing with is incredibly difficult to cope with. My oldest is the talker in my house. I understand about 70% of what he’s talking about and often find myself just pretending to listen because otherwise I’d lose my mind.
Like I said in the previous comment, this is really interesting because oftentiems there’s a root cause behind a behavior and addressing the root cause can help to address the behavior.
I don’t say interesting to belittle your experience because I swear that my oldest could extract information from terrorists by simply locking him in a room with them and letting him talk their resolve away. It’s literally torturous at times and anyone who would look down on you for feeling this way, has no idea what this is like.
Have the specialists said anything?
My stepson is almost 8. I met him when he had just turned 2. He was nonverbal until about 18 months ago. He was diagnosed with adhd 6 months ago & was put on ability for his mood disorder. His mom didn’t think it was working so he was re-diagnosed & put on adderol. He is non-stop energy from the moment he wakes up at 5:30 am, high pitched screams and begins throwing trucks against the wall. He’s not potty trained so we go in right away to a grown child poop diaper and that’s how we start the day. He will not stop talking at that point. Things like, “TRUCK!! BIG TRUCK!!! SHOW DAD BIG TRUCK!!!!!!!” I’m like, “cool man, can you show me how to roll it?” To which my trying to converse with him will make him realize that he doesn’t want to talk about a truck. Now he’ll yell, “DOG!!!! DOG!!! BIG DOG!!!!!” And I’ll try to join causing him to immediately pick another topic. It’s nonstop. He goes to ABA therapy for school where he has one-on-one therapy for 6.5 hours 5 days/week. At school it seems like they experience the same thing and can’t get a word in edgewise. It’s so hard to make conversation with the kid because, again as soon as you do, it bugs him (he makes this growl noise) and the next thing he sees he’ll label & repeat. It’s definitely exhausting. My husband (his dad) and I can’t even talk anymore when he’s around because he’ll blurt out a subject so loudly & if we ignore or ask him to wait, he’ll grab my husbands face with his hands (he’s very tall) and make his dad give him the attention he seeks followed by grabbing dad’s hand and dragging him away from me and our conversation. It’s very very hard.
My husband (his dad) and I can’t even talk anymore when he’s around because he’ll blurt out a subject so loudly & if we ignore or ask him to wait, he’ll grab my husbands face with his hands (he’s very tall) and make his dad give him the attention he seeks followed by grabbing dad’s hand and dragging him away from me and our conversation. It’s very very hard.
I completely understand this. Our son is only 3 but he is obsessed with his dad and will do anything to interrupt a conversation and draw dad’s attention away from me to him. Our happy marriage has become a tag team of whoever needs a break most, gets to leave the house.
I can relate to a large portion of this. I don’t know that we ever had the exact same scenario but there’s usually a purpose to behaviors and I’d be very interested in learning what your son’s underlying motivations are, if any.. Has your son been involved in therapy at all?
I have a foster child that we have had in our home for three weeks and he hasn’t stopped talking since he arrived. I do not know his trauma. He doesn’t talk about that at all but he just never ever stops….going a little crazy myself.
Jr has his moments but usually it’s and argument on why he wants something!!!
I can totally relate Deb but you already know that. 🙂