This child never stops talking…….

This is what a teacher said to me this week in an exasperated voice about a child aged 10 in her class. The child is always calling out, interrupting and talking over her and the other children in the class. I suggested that children who talk all the time are often very anxious and this can be a way of them coping with this. I suggested she set the child a challenge using a sand timer (which is for about a minute) and encourage the child to see if she could wait and watch the timer before talking,. The challenge is called “stop for a minute “ and the child has agreed to try it twice a day, with a view to extending it after she has achieved success. This can be increased on a weekly basis with rewards at the end of each week. This strategy will enable the child to practice and see what it feels like, therefore letting her experiment with the idea. It is being presented in a light hearted and fun way to reduce her anxiety and enable her to achieve success……watch this space !