our 6.5 yr old incessant humming/singing

[L3333]

Is there a disorder or sesory issue or something if your child has hummed and sings incessantly all the time without stopping - even in the midst of being told not to?  He's always been musical and loves music - ever since birth but his singing is driving us a bit batty.  Do all 61/2 yr olds do this?
It's usually a very short part of a song that gets repeated not the whole song.

[Harmiepooh]

My child sings constantly and we caht get him to stop.he has FASD and reactive attachment disorder  ( we adopted him) and its a learned selfsoothing behavior. He has done it at times in his preschool class. He does it whenever he wakes up until goes to bed . Im trying to teach him to also to lower his talkig voice.he does have mild neurosensory hearing loss as well..the singing drives us crazy and i noticed the same songs kids are singing he does ! Please give me some ideas.he doesnt respond well to reward systems .almost like his brain forgets.weve talked to his psychiatrist and psychologist and pediatrician and they all say its self soothing.with him i find he has a hard time remembering the next day no to do something.he repeats the same behaviors over and over. He also has ADHD.  There are no specialists in my area of Canada who deal with attachment issues. Frankly its exhausting at times.He is 5.He was assessed for ASD and intellectual disabilities and the testing came back as negative.

[LRM1021]

Please make sure to give credit to Russell Barkley, PHD about the whole internalized speech thing-- would not want anyone to get upset! I read about it in one of his books. The words above are mine, but the idea about children learning how to internalize speech I think is his.

[L3333]

Thanks again to you both for posting a comment - I appreciate both of them!
I've volunteered in his class at school todayand noticed that he didn't do it but that some other kids were off and on humming/singing even while the teacher was giving instructions.  So I think you are all correct in saying that it's probably fine.  
LRM1021...My husband is a school teacher and is going to use your advice and wording to his student's parents at conference time regarding teaching their children at home the difference between internaized speech and outloud speech.  Thanks again for your advice!

[RockRose]

Oops,  sorry.  I should have read the whole thread.  If he doesn't do it at church or school,  he's fine.  

[RockRose]

Does your son do this at school,  or just at home?

If it's just at home,  this is really quite common,  and associated with mild OCD.  You see people saying "OH DANG IT,  now I'll sing that song all day!!"  And they mean it.  There are certain songs that are more common for compulsive singing,  and I won't list them here or I'll be singing them.

[LRM1021]

Awesome to hear that school and other social settings are not a problem for him! He'll pick up on the lessons in no time I am sure!

[L3333]

Thanks for your response!  You worded your post really well and it was encouraging to realize he doesn't do this at school and/or church.  Thanks for giving me perspective.  I also think that teaching him to keep it in is a great idea and a good way to appropriately teach him what the difference is.  He's old enough to understand and concrete enough to have us role play and stuff.  Great suggestion.
Thanks again...

[LRM1021]

If your child does this while at school or at church or other places where it is distracting and he cannot control himself then I would talk to his pediatrician about it. Not all children are making noise constantly.
Children as they grow up learn to internalize speech. Some children are more delayed about internalizing speech/ sound than others.  The things they think in their head will come out of their mouths-- they have to learn to keep them in, so to speak. My son talks constantly ( and I mean CONSTANTLY--- I'm not kidding about that) -- we are working on internalizing speech with him as well. Its a skill he is just learning.
Now, if your child is able to control this while at school, or church, or other places where it is inappropriate, then honestly I would not even worry about it. I would, however, try offering him rewards for "keeping it in his head" and see if that can encourage him to tone it down a bit.