How Excessive Talking Could Be a Symptom of ADHD

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can present in different ways. Some kids with ADHD are quiet but face severe inattentive symptoms. Others experience hyperactive and impulsive symptoms like excessive talking, fidgeting, and restlessness. Usually, it’s kids, teens, and adults with combined type or primarily hyperactive/impulsive ADHD who struggle with excessive talking. 

When this is the case, parents can have a hard time knowing how to help kids control symptoms like talkativeness or interrupting. You don't want to make your child feel bad, but you do want to help them learn how to navigate social interactions appropriately so that they have the skills they need to succeed. So, what can you do?

This article will help you understand excessive talking as an ADHD symptom, how excessive talking can affect a child with ADHD and their life, and ways to help kids with ADHD address excessive talking in a way that supports their overall mental health and self-esteem.

If your child has ADHD, Joon can help. Joon is an app designed for kids with ADHD and related disorders (or anyone who benefits from the app) aged 6-12+. Here's how Joon can help with ADHD symptoms, self-regulation, behavior, and task completion:

Parents sign up first with Joon Parent App and make a task list for their child. You can change or adjust the task list at any time. When kids finish tasks like chores, personal hygiene activities, and homework or otherwise engage in good behavior, they get rewards in Joon Pet Game. Made with the ADHD brain in mind, Joon will hold your child's attention while helping them establish positive routines and independence.

90% of kids who use Joon complete all of their tasks. 

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The Link Between ADHD and Excessive Talking

People with ADHD can have a hard time with eye contact and other parts of social interactions. Here's some of what you may notice in an ADHD child who talks excessively.

What is excessive talking?

Usually, excessive talking is characterized by compulsive speech, talking at inappropriate times, or interrupting other people. If an ADHD child also struggles with social cues, they may not realize that another person feels upset or hurt after being interrupted.

Research on the connection between ADHD and excessive talking

Excessive talking is a known symptom of ADHD. It is a hyperactivity/impulsivity symptom that is looked for during ADHD testing. ADHD research has shown that people with the disorder experience more challenges with things like inappropriate speech and staying on topic during conversations. Multiple studies also show that people with ADHD may structure sentences and words differently.

How excessive talking fits into the broader symptomology of ADHD

People with ADHD often struggle with impulse control. As a broader symptom, impulsivity can lead you to speak on impulse, only realizing that you're speaking out of turn once you've already started. Many people with ADHD also talk excessively because they:

• Forget what they're going to say if they wait to talk due to challenges with working memory
• Get excited to join the conversation or feel excited about the topic
• Don’t notice social cues 
• Have racing thoughts

Learning active listening and other communication or social skills can be helpful for kids with ADHD who face difficulties with social skills, including those who talk excessively.

How Excessive Talking Impacts Individuals With ADHD

Before we get into how to address excessive talking, why does it matter? Excessive talking can cause a number of challenges in daily life, including important areas such as the following.

Difficulty in social situations

Research shows that kids with ADHD are more likely to face difficulty in peer relationships than other children. Often, this is due to challenges like trouble with social cues, paying attention when others are talking, and speaking out of turn.

Challenges in academic and work environments

People with ADHD have a more difficult time at work and school, statistically speaking. One of the reasons for this can be challenges with social interactions, like talking out of turn, blurting things out, or having trouble participating in activities quietly. 

Impact on relationships and personal well-being

People with ADHD are more likely to develop other mental health conditions. Difficulty with social interactions can lead to social anxiety disorder in people with ADHD. Low self-esteem and depression are also more common in people with ADHD.

All of these concerns can interfere with social relationships and personal well-being. Feeling misunderstood, othered, or experiencing communication troubles but not knowing why or how to fix them can all contribute to the development of social anxiety with ADHD. 

Strategies for Managing Excessive Talking in Individuals With ADHD

The way you navigate concerns like excessive talking matters for ADHD kids. When teaching kids how to use active listening skills, show positive regard for your child. Focus on the desired behavior and its benefits (e.g., "listening makes other people feel good") instead of what they're doing "wrong." Ideally, you can use a combination of strategies like the following to support your child. 

Medication and therapy options

Stimulant ADHD medication (combined with parent training, for kids under 12) is the first line of treatment for ADHD due to its efficacy in ADHD symptom management. Since excessive talking is a symptom of ADHD, treating the disorder through medication can make a huge difference in kids who need help learning active listening and other social or communication skills. 

ADHD medication can improve concentration, academic functioning, and behavior. It can also help alleviate and stabilize symptoms related to hyperactivity and impulsivity that affect social interactions, like excessive talking and interrupting others. Similarly, parent training can help kids with ADHD symptoms and behavior (e.g., speaking at appropriate times).

Cognitive behavioral therapy and related modalities can be helpful for co-occurring concerns like social anxiety or depression. While there's limited research on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for ADHD alone, promising studies have been conducted, leading to improvements like increased empathy and self-control.

CBT and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) can also be helpful for emotion regulation and self-regulation.

Behavioral interventions and coping mechanisms

ADHD is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder, so it's critical that kids develop the healthy coping skills and strategies they need to succeed. Coping mechanisms and strategies helpful for excessive talking in kids can include but aren't limited to:

• Learning to catch oneself interrupting (apologizing and asking the other person to continue if you interrupt)
• Practicing listening skills (e.g., nodding, listening more than you talk or an equal amount, asking questions)
• Learning to pause before speaking to ensure the other person is done talking
• Learning to identify and navigate social cues

Parents can role-play listening and conversation skills with kids to help them learn. Additionally, parents should model listening skills for their children. For example, upon interrupting, you may apologize and ask the other person, or your child, if they're the one talking, to continue if this is a skill you want to teach your child.

The Joon App

The Joon App is an excellent resource for kids with ADHD and their parents. Joon comes with 500+ pre-loaded tasks that teach kids independence and other critical skills. Parents can also write custom tasks for their children. If your child takes medication, attends therapy, or needs to participate in at-home therapeutic activities like role-playing, these are all examples of tasks that could be added to the app. 

How we improve behavior

With Joon, kids get rewards for good behavior. Rewards are motivating for people with ADHD and can help kids instill positive behavioral patterns. Since rewards are built into the app, the Joon App is a sustainable way for parents to improve behavior in kids. Parents can also add custom rewards if they want to. 

Conclusion

People with ADHD can have trouble with cognitive control and impulsivity. Often, kids with ADHD struggle with talkativeness, distractibility, inattentiveness, restlessness, and other symptoms that can impede social interactions. 

When kids have the right tools to cope with ADHD, they can lead happy, healthy, and successful lives. Part of this is learning how to navigate social challenges. ADHD medication, parent training, and therapy can be helpful for kids with ADHD who experience challenges with social interactions, emotional regulation, and related concerns.

Further research is needed on some treatments, like social skills training, for excessive talking in ADHD kids. As the world grows to understand ADHD as a common and lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder, we anticipate seeing greater social acceptance, leading to the ability to work together and understand each other, as well as more research on helpful treatments.