Perspective Taking: Photo activities for emotions & thinking about reactions.

Understanding Perspective taking and Theory of Mind is a topic that is very difficulty for children with social cognitive learning delays. This social skill often impacts children with autism, ADHD or nonverbal learning disability. This speech therapy activity is meant to help children understand the 4 parts of active perspective taking essential for social interactions.

All people have thoughts about each other. Every time you interact with someone you think about them. Even if you don't speak you are thinking about each other.

Perspective taking happens when you realize that your behaviors and words affect the feelings of those with whom you interact. You modify your language and behavior during each interaction because other people react differently.

In the first activity, students will look at a photo and identify what they think/know/guess or answer structured questions to make inferences about feelings.

In the second activity, student are presented with a mat. The mat has 6 different images for a the given situation (ie: playground, locker, teacher, video games). The students work on identifying and

predicting how different statements might make their conversational partner feel. Read the scenario at the top of the card. Each question card has example phrases that might be uttered during a conversation. When you read a sentence the student should point to the picture that represents the most likely response. Ask the student what that person would think about that statement.

I have used with activity with children on the autism spectrum from grades 2-7. This will highly depend on their cognitive ability and skill level. You can use the images and adjust them to your student's levels.

37 pages with 72 photo images. Includes 4 easy to use posters.