One of loopers’ biggest challenges is to loop people whose tendency is to speak for long periods of time. Our normal tendency when people do this is to be polite and not interrupt them. We think that this is not so helpful to the speaker or the looper since the looper will reach a point where they may forget some of the important parts of what the client has communicated and the client will be unclear whether or not they have been understood. And the speaker might feel lost in the complexities and detours that might have occurred in their own expression. So we have to overcome our natural reluctance to interrupt. Our attitude in doing this is critical. If our attitude is to shut down the speaker, then that is what will be communicated. But if the effort is to understand, then the interruption in the service of understanding will be more acceptable. So our tip is to pick a moment when it seems appropriate and say something like, “Excuse me, but I just want to be sure I understand what you have been saying so far.” And then loop.
