Developing Perspective taking with Younger Children

Do you work on developing perspective taking with younger students in speech therapy?

The social skill of perspective taking is the ability to look beyond your own personal viewpoint and consider another person’s perspective or point of view.

• How are they feeling?
• What are they thinking?
• What impact am I having upon them?

Teaching perspective-taking to younger students can be challenging. Have you asked yourself, “how do I teach it to students who barely have metacognition?” Many researchers have stated that metacognition develops, at earliest by age 7-8. However, evidence of earlier developing metacognition has more recently been revealed in preschoolers and as early as the ages of 2-3.

According to ASHA, the evidence-based interventions for perspective taking include systematic instruction, group interventions, and technology.

What does a lack of perspective taking look like?

What happens when our speech therapy students cannot take the perspectives of others?  They are often viewed as children with “behavior problems,” or “inconsiderate” or “self-centered”?  These children may focus on seeking personal fullfillment rather than what is best for other children or the group.

People who have developed perspective taking will be able to understand that other people’s interests are different – you might like soccer even though I don’t and I might like legos even though you don’t.  For individuals with autism, perspective taking is often not developed; they have a difficult time understanding that different people have different interests.  A child with autism might assume that everyone likes talking about the star wars movie not realizing that the other person isn’t interested in this star wars conversation at all.

So how do we teach children to take others’ perspectives and improve their perspective taking abilities? What do we do when the child has not developed perspective-taking skills by a certain age? Therapists and teachers facilitate perspective-taking through:

• the provision of classroom supports,
• systematic teaching of perspective-taking skills,
• social-emotional teaching,
• group instruction.

Perspective taking Activities for Speech Therapy

1.Storybooks.

Read storybooks that teach social skills and discuss the feelings of characters at different points in the book. I like to start out with fairy tales because the character are often well-known to children. Check out this post on using fairy tales to improve perspective-taking.

2. Teach emotional literacy.

Teaching emotions and how to identify them is a valuable part of your social skills instruction. Also, be sure to point out the emotions of others in the moment. When another child is upset, point out how he is feeling and why. If they are having difficulties identifying the emotion on the child, break it down into steps:

• what do they see and hear?
• What background knowledge do they have? This would include past experiences they have had, especially ones that left an emotional imprint upon them.
• How does their face look?
• How does their voice sound?

3. Use thought bubbles.

Thought bubbles are simple ways to show your young students that others have thoughts about the people and the world around them.

4. Cartoon Strips.

Cartoon strips can be a part of your systematic instruction for perspective taking and social skills. They are a great tool for reviewing and analyzing peer conflicts witih your younger speech therapy students. They provide opportunities for children to consider how others felt during a conflict. Draw the conflict out on a strip and use thought bubbles to portray how the people involved were feeling and what they were thinking and review it with the child. I have comic strip templates, such as the one below in my library of resources that is free to newsletter subscribers. Click below to join!

5. Do a “How we choose friends” lesson (not just a friendship lesson).

Do a speech therapy lesson with your students about how children choose friends. Take your friendship lesson beyond just “how to be a good friend” and discuss what other children look for when they are searching for new friends. This packet, “Freddy chooses a friend,” is print or no print and includes a social story on how Freddy chooses a friend from two boys who are very different. It introduces the idea that we pick our friends based upon how they make us feel! Included in this packet, are interactive activities for perspective taking to do with your younger students to help them consider what others think of their actions and behavior.

6. Group Interventions and Pretend Play!

Perspective-taking and social skills cannot be taught in a bubble. Support your social skills or speech therapy students during more unstructured times that allow opportunities for pretend play and social interaction, such as dramatic play centers or recess. When children take on a pretend role, they imagine what it is like to be another person! Narrate the perspectives of other children for your student during play, “Jeff looked sad when you took his toy,” and the positive emotions too: “Jeff smiled when you shared your blocks-he seems happy.” You might find this prior blog post on social communication therapy in pretend play centers helpful.

7. Technology!

• Look for clips and shorts on youtube of your student’s favorite characters and incorporate them into your perspective taking activities and social skills activities. While you view the clip, pause it and ask the student to reflect upon the perspectives of the characters.
• One of my favorite interventions is for a group of students. I’ve done this with early childhood classes that for my students with autism. First give a whole class lesson on identifying emotions. Then, instruct each child to practice a certain emotion. Use your Ipad or camera to take a picture of each child practicing the emotion. I have used face-only shots but whole body shots would be valuable too! Then, see if your students can identify the emotion each child is portraying. Dissect the picture: what are their eyes doing? Are their eyebrows rising or scrunched? How about the mouth? Open? Smiling? Frowning? One year, we hung the pictures on the wall outside of the classroom! I keep the photos on my ipad to use periodically wiith my student with autism. I have also used the doodle buddy app (still free at this time) to have my students “change” the emotion being expressed in the picture by drawing over it.
• Video modeling is an evidence-based intervention for perspective taking! When I use video modeling, I only film social successes, (not social mistakes). Then, my student has a successful model to view repeatedly over time. Video modeling is also a tool for priming positive behavior.

I hope you found some ideas for teaching the skill of perspective-taking in your speech therapy and social skills sessions. Pin the image below to save it!