Making Social Inferences
The Speech Corner Photo Cards for Social Inferences and Subtle Cues is one of our favorite tools for targeting social skills. Created by Rachele Ellsworth, M.S., CCC-SLP, the deck contains fifty large color photographs of people engaged in various activities (e.g., waiting at a doctor’s office, helping someone in need, sharing a meal together). Questions on the back of each card target understanding of the subtle social cues depicted. It allows us to practice making inferences and predictions as well as understanding emotions and body language all with one material!
For example, one of the cards shows a fireman helping a woman who has just been in a car accident. Some questions on the back read:
Do these people know each other? How do you know?
What just occurred to bring these people together?
What might the man say? What might the woman say?
How might the woman feel? How might the man feel?
Where is the woman going now? How do you know?
Do you think more people are near these people?
We love using these cards with children who are struggling with interpreting social cues. One child that we used these cards with went from needing a great deal of support to interpret body language and relationships between people to independently making predictions and interpreting body language both in picture scenes and in her real life!