3yo dd does not listen (even is she asked a question)!!

[Sibella1]

My lo is 3 years and 3 months old and she has been a little slow in talking (partly because English is our second language). She now talks loads and whenever she sees another adult she just talks and talks and talks - I don't get a word in edge wise. The problem is that she then does not listen to what the other person says. For instance she always asks 'whats your name?' to everyone she sees - even my neighbour who she has known for more than a year and she does not listen to the answer. Tomorrow she will ask her again,and again. I will later ask her what the name is and she doesn't know. She also does this with her pre-school teacher every day. She is extremely friendly and chatty (has been like that since birth) but how do I get her to listen as well?

Sorry to clarify, but are you saying your year old doesn't know your neighbours name ? In spite of being repeatedly told? Or the name of her pre school teacher?...

Some children (and adults) react better if you touch them when you are talking to them, you could try this. Do you have a health visitor? I would mention this to her and see what she says aswell (talk to the health visitor about this, not talk to DD).

Yes that's right, she does not know their names even though they tell it to her all the time.

Yesterday after this happened again with the neighbour I sat with her and taught her the neigbour's name and asked her to repeat it which she then did. So if you go down to her level and say it repeatedly she does get it but when she is having her random conversations with adults she does not seem to listen to what they say.

Did she remember after your chat yesterday?

sibella. Have you had her hearing tested recently? My dd was tested at birth and was A OK. Then at around age 2.5 she developed an allergy to milk. Unusual in that it blocked her sinuses and prevented her from hearing well at all. She was actually lip reading aged 2. She could follow the gist of most conversations and her problem went unnoticed at 1st. However names were her stumbling block. They didn't get repeated enough for her to pick them up properly.

I'm not saying that this is your daughters problem and I don't have a medical background but I think it probably is an issue I would want to discuss with the gp / health visitor.

I do know a child however who refuses to bother with the names of any of the nursery staff, she has been attending for about a year and calls everyone "lady" or "teacher". She wants their attention but doesn't consider them important enough to bother to learn their names.

I would have a chat with the health visitor and arrange a hearing test to rule it out but I wouldn't be too stressed until she is a little older.

Yes, well she could remember the one neighbour's name (which was easy) but I had to remind her about the other one.

She also likes to say 'I don't know' to questions, although when I read her favourite bedtime story and leave words and sentences out she will repeat them to me - so she is able to remember things. Also she easily remembers her friends names.

Hmm. I remember a little lady I met whilst doing nurse training, every 5 minutes she'd ask me what my husband was called, the reply would always be the same "I'm not married sweetie".
I'd have a word with the health visitor. Maybe she's pulling a fast one and it's a game, there's no harm in asking about it though.