Blurting
Students who blurt out (interrupt or call out) may...
- yell out/call out
- make noises
- hum
- tap/bang
- stand up abruptly
- talk to others frequently
- bother other students
- be impulsive
- be disruptive
When supporting a student who blurts, some general strategies involve
- Monitoring your own interrupting
- Monitoring other students who also interrupt (sending mixed messages)
- Be aware to not inadvertently reinforce the interrupting with a response
- Reduce quiet listening times--building up
- Build in wait time for all and practice it
- Define the type of responses you anticipate for the activity
- Use (and teach) distance classroom volume levels
- Revisit rules of conversations or group discussions
Interventions may include
- Call on them when they raise their hand.
- Use nonverbal cues
- Develop a social story
- Use tokens/chips or charting with the student
- Reduce the emphasis on being first/competition
- Use icons (quiet mouth, thinking vs. talking bubbles)
- Give the student dedicated time to talk to you about their ideas
- Give the student a specific job (i.e., chart holder, board scribe, stick/name caller, etc.)
- Provide other ways to move
- Try a paperclip participation chart (or clothespin) for the student to kinesthetically keep track of others taking turns.
Literature Links
Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker by Christianne Jones
Howard B Wigglebottom Learns To Listen by Howard Binkow
Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
My Mouth Is A Volcano by Julia Cook
Decibella by Julia Cook
Mert the Blurt by Robert Kraus
I Can't Believe you Said That by Julia Cook
Teacher Readings