My son's lack of sound volume control is ridiculous. I know he gets it from me, as I've mentioned my nickname used to be PA.

It seems to be impossible to get him to talk at anything less than a shout. His normal speaking volume is louder than most 6 year olds are even capable of shouting, I'm sure.

Constantly reminding him doesn't work. He will whisper for less than a minute then go back to shouting.

I am reluctant to punish him. I thought of giving him time-outs where he sits on a special chair and cannot speak for 5 minutes as a reminder not to speak so loudly.

Suggestions and recommendations welcome. Seriously, he leaves my ears ringing.

All I can think of at the moment is to sit down with him and talk to him, specifically about this issue and how it affects those around him. It certainly won't fix the problem by itself, but he might take it more seriously when you alert him to his excessive volume later.

142587

So when you were called PA did your voice sound loud to you?
These days does your voice sound very quiet to you?

I suspect the answer to both is no just as your son doesn't think that he is shouting now.

So think about how you got rid of the nickname and apply the same to your son.

Time outs and punishments will not work in this instance.

Maybe my noisy co worker, female, is Aspie....

Is being loud an impulse issue?  is he only loud when excited? or when he has an idea he wants to share and does not want to hold it in>

I'm usually the same way :-\

He is always loud. But particularly loud at the times you mention.

My wife tells me I am still loud. My voice does sound loud to me if I think about it. Usually I don't say much so it isn't as much of an issue. My son talks constantly.

I only lost the nickname when I left that job.
I got rid of the nickname when left that job

All of my kids drive me crazy with their volume. Punishing doesn't make sense as they are just not aware, or they forget within two seconds. Sometimes I simply put my hands over my ears until the noise gets less. That often gets the message across far better.

A frind of mine regularly wears earplugs around the house. She has four kids...

If you have any type of recording device you could try letting him speak into it after telling him again that he talks too loud and you feel that if he listens to a recording of himself, he may better understand what you mean.  Children usually enjoy this kind of activity, so it wouldn't need to have any sort of negative connotation.  You and he could come up with a little phrase to shout into the recorder and then use that phrase as a reminder later on when he forgets again.  Since modeling works best to teach children any kind of behavior, you could speak into the recorder, also, at the volume level you want him to emulate.  When he listens to the whole recording, he should be able to tell the difference.

:-\ My mother shares your dilemma

Well there is another option.

MY DAD's way of doing things amounts to #1 priority being super-self-conscious of what is considered conformist and polite (or "politically correct"), while being calm and passive in private settings.

It worked, in that if I needed to get his attention at age 28 (me) and age 60 (him)... I just set my volume immediately to "SENSORY OVERLOAD!!!!!!!!"

Yeah, by most parent's standards, he's pretty tolerant. Which is why I do it.

I'm hearing you on this one!! (pardon the pun!). I haven't found an effective strategy yet either, but I wonder whether finding some kind of visual / symbolic representation of "speaking" voice and "shouting" voice might help, as well as discussion about where it is ok to use a "speaking" voice vs "shouting" voice.
My 5 yo and I will need to have to think about a Star Wars related thing( Star Wars being his all-encompassing passion at the moment) to develop his awareness about the right volume for the right situation.

Isn't it amazing how they can be really really super LOUD , and yet when we make a slight Noise, it is hands on ears, flapping and crying all the way . Always wondered why their own voice and sounds don't affect them in the same way that other sounds do. Makes no sense to me, but then nothing in life ever fully makes sense anyway :S .

I tend to find that if my Son is being loud, to help him to get over it, i start to whisper. I don't know why but it seems to work most of the time unless he is really , really upset. x

I think that carrying around a portable decibel meter.  There are some apps on phones.  If he can see how loud - you could tell him that a certain range is ok and that louder is not.  If he keeps practicing with the app it might work.

This post was last modified: 04-05-2012 04:41 PM by M.