Constantly interrupting

I apologize in advance for the length of my question! 

I am having a very difficult time helping my children learn the habit of listening when others speak and not interrupting. We have 5 children – 4 of them talking age (2 ½ to 8 ½). All four talkers are very gregarious, outgoing, friendly, and opinionated and because they read a lot, have LOTS to talk about. I find them interesting to listen to and others usually do as well. 

Our 6 year old daughter has some sensory processing issues that make it difficult for her to tune in appropriately to others’ conversations. She tends to block things out and so therefore, when she has a thought that she wants to share, she just “bursts in” whenever the thought enters her mind. She honestly doesn’t realize until after she has spoken that someone else is already talking. We are working on her sensory processing issues with different activities and interventions, so that’s not what I’m so concerned about.

The problem is that her two younger siblings, ages 2 ½ and 4, and even her older sister have picked up this habit that she has and constantly interrupt other people when they are talking. I’m not talking about once in a while. I’m talking about incessant interrupting.

They interrupt each other, my husband and I at the table, guests (they are especially bad when they are excited about guests being over), and even adult strangers that we are meeting for the first time. All four of them speak over each other and over the adults in the conversation without ceasing.  

I feel as though whenever we have a conversation, especially with someone outside of our family, I am constantly putting out little fires and saying “So and so – listen! Grandma’s talking!”, etc.

I’m pretty baffled as to what to do because as far as children go, my children are very considerate of others in many other ways. I see in their daily behavior them trying to show love to their siblings and others outside of our family. They don’t seem to realize that by speaking over someone else, they are not being considerate of that person, even though we talk about this often.

Short of making a rule that children may not speak unless spoken to (which I’m really hesitant to do), I have not been successful in trying to curb this behavior. I’ve tried sending the offender from the room to play by themselves and having the child sit next to me. The problem is that if I’m working on stopping the behavior in one child, the other 3 just fill in the void that the one child has left!

I will mention that I know that it’s possible for them to be quiet because they sit quietly for church services (up to 2 hours), during Quiet Time in the afternoon (1 hour) and when we go places like the doctor’s office, etc.

I would really appreciate any insight into how I can help my children to be more pleasant to be around and how our home can be a more peaceful place. I love my children and I don’t want to stifle their opinions and contributions to the family. But the craziness just needs to stop! (or at least slow down a bit) 🙂

Thanks in advance,

~Anna