Stop Interrupting & Start Being Present in Conversations: An ADHD Guide (with Sharon Saline, Ph.D.)

Learn strategies for listening and communicating better with ADHD in this Q&A session with Dr. Sharon Saline, a leading authority on living well with neurodivergence.
#adhd #communication #communicationskills
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[@cafreria_en_pote]

Interrupting has a purpose in processing the conversation. If we can’t engage, we absorb/understand less.

[@cherylkenyon2408]

My husband gets furious with me for interrupting , but now that he has been around my siblings with a.dh.d , i think hes starting to understand. He also noticed he does it too!!

[@joeldheath]

In work-oriented discussions, if I've missed part of the conversation, I try to verbally reconstruct my understanding of what was said up to this point. All people are capable of missing details or focusing too strongly on a minor part of something so it's fairly natural for someone to have to repeat a portion of what they said. Also, this technique is a good way to recap a conversation and verify shared understanding even if you did get everything on the first pass. In less task-oriented discussions (such as general socializing), there are often fewer important details so it's less expected that you'll need things repeated. I have found that most people, regardless of neurotype forget almost everything from a conversation immediately after it ends. The one thing that people tend to take away is the most common emotion that they felt during the discussion. So, don't worry so much about getting everything "right" or catching every word -- instead focus on trying to gauge how the person speaking feels about what they're talking about, validate that feeling (if appropriate), and then try to repeat back to them something they just said in the form of a question such as asking for elaboration about a specific thing they said.

[@bensweiss]

Never thought interrupting was specific to ADD. My father, who stuttered when I was young, would tell us not to interrupt him when he would speak. Active listening, therapy, and asking to repeat back what I've heard to try to understand and remember have been somewhat helpful somewhat. Sometimes I write down important things to remember. Sometimes I say too much and need to be more concise to let the other person speak.

[@KAYE-m9j]

Sorry I don't do Facebook but listening

[@sandyg3816]

60 y/o w/f here..this is such a great subject as I have had ADD (I do not have the hyper part) all my life. I am a definite "interrupter! Also can get loud! I also think I do this as I will forget what I'm thinking! I live in Central Texas 🤠

[@foxybyproxy]

i interrupt when i am listening and i don',t want to forget the person's point- so, let's discuss it now! kind of thing. i have met many folks and we have interrupting in common and it's like a no-big, short-hand and its awesome. neurotypicals sure have problems acclimating...hee

[@KAYE-m9j]

Hi I'm Debbie I am from UK

[@Justyn219]

Hi Debbie, how're you ? :) I'm Justyn from Las Vegas, NV, USA

[@KAYE-m9j]

Trying to navigate ADHD at 53

[@KAYE-m9j]

​@@Justyn219trying to navigate adhd at 53 hope u good😊

[@bensweiss]

Tangents are Oversharing? Never knew that. I thought oversharing was revealing too much info about a topic.e.g. My father would shout at us. And he overate.

[@moonhunter9993]

Wow, still 47 minutes long. The people who need to listen to this simply can't. How about dividing these up into shorter sections (after recording?) to make it more manageable. Also the only reason I'm still subscribed is because I am waiting for the penny to drop and for you to change the format from these long rambling talks to something more manageable for actual people with ADD/ADHD... still waiting though.

[@kimdavis2433]

Try speeding it up to 1.25 or 1.5x and doing chores like dishes or laundry while listening

[@joeldheath]

I hear you. I certainly couldn't handle watching the whole video at normal speed so I will second kim's suggestion of playing the video at an accelerated speed. This feature is available on almost all youtube players these days under the settings/gear icon -> playback speed and it's smart enough to do automatic pitch correction so the speaker won't sound like they're breathing helium!

[@moonhunter9993]

@@kimdavis2433 you're not getting the point. They're "tone deaf" to their target audience. Yes, not everyone watching this HAS ADHD but surely it should at least take ADHD listeners into account. How can they be so unaware of themselves. It's a form of ableism. It's like a forum about physical disabilities not being wheel-chair accessible... and then being told: well, if you "try hard enough" you could get in. But that's not the point, is it?

[@moonhunter9993]

@@joeldheath It's not the point I'm making. See my response below.