Social Skills: Thinking & Language: Non-literal, Sarcasm, Reading Between the Lines, Inference

One of the chapters of the Social Thinking curriculum by Michelle Garcia Winner addresses ambiguous language skills which includes non-literal langauge, indirect messages, figurative language, idioms,  and sarcasm. Speech Language Pathologists have all at one time or another worked on these skills.  Children with ASD, ADHD, pragmatic disorders, etc. usually have some degree of difficulty with this type of language. 

There are many resource materials available for addressing this issue.  Super Duper Publications sells cards, books, and software devoted to non-literal language.  Linguisystems and most other retailers for speech therapy or education also publish such materials. Here are a few of the materials on my shelves:

Super Duper Publications:
Idioms Fun Deck: There are several good Fun Decks (card decks) dealing with inferences, multiple meaning words, etc.
From Rags to Riches idioms game
Read Between the Lines
Uderstanding Inferences Fun Deck
Webber Interactive WH- Questions:  This cd-rom has a level on inference.  It shows a scene and then asks a question, it gives 2-4 choices and the child must have attended to the visual information in the scene. 
Social Inference Fun Deck
Go for the Dough game has a multiple meanings word activity

Linguisystems
No Glamour Idioms
WALC 9 Verbal & Visual Reasoning

Non-Literal Language:
The Literals (figurative language - Amanda show)
Mr. Gullible (Amanda show)

Sarcasm:
Sarcasm 101 Matthew Perry
More Sarcasm
Wild Thornberry's
Big Bang Theory (Caution: cursing in the clip)
Big Bang Theory 2 (no cursing)
Friends:  Ross on "the Baby locked in the apartment"

Idioms:
Idioms
Idiom:  Don't count your chickens before they hatch.
Geico commercials: Is the Pen Mightier than the Sword?  Don't live under a rock? Does a woodchuck chuck wood?  Does the Buck stop here?  Play the commercial and discuss the difference between the idea being presented in a literal way versus the inferred meanings and how the terms are used as figurative language.

Not  figurative language, but correct use of homophones "there, their, they're"  since homophones can confuse us also.

Figurative Language:
Metaphors & Similes
Metaphors & Similes in Pop Music
Lesson Plans @ speechlanguage-resources.com

Inferencing:
Mime: Learning the Art - Many children with Social Skills deficits have difficulty with representational thinking.  Body language and Charades activities can be difficult for them to understand.  Learning to imitate and infer actions can help improve observational skills, perspective, and delivering an effective message.
How to Catch a Ball
How to Catch a Butterfly
How to Chew Gum
How to Dig
How to drink from a cup
How to Create a Story in Mime
How to pull a rope

PB SocialThinking on Inferencing

Think with Your Eyes:
Chevy commercial:  Man adjusts his words based on his observations when he sees the salesman who looks a lot like Santa Claus.

Uses for Board Games and Card Games in Speech Therapy

I am not going to actually write a blog on this subject.  I am however posting this as a link to my Facebook site where I list several games and a few of the ways I use them in speech therapy sessions. There are endless ways to adapt a game and address goals; limited only by our imaginations.  I do not list a number of grammar goals or articulation goals because on almost any game you can set the parameters.  For example, any race game (Sorry, Candyland, Trouble...) or game requiring any type of assembly (Kerplunk, Buckaroo, etc.) or game that requires the turning over of a card or roll of dice can have a prerequisite to a turn being taken or a piece being placed on the game. 

Sample prerequisites might be:

Articulation - Say your sound, or word, or sentence prior to each turn
Grammer - Repeat or create a sentence with your target: pronouns, verb tenses, conjunctions, synonyms...
Processing - Answer a question or respond to a prompt of some kind. (Can ask various "wh-" questions, pull items from various listening/processing books, etc.)

To view my ideas on some of my favorite therapy games as well as why I like them and various ways I use them, click on this link:  Facebook-Photos-Games

You can click on each photo and view the comments boxes for various ideas.  Check back from time to time because I add new items as I find them.  I just bought a new game and will be posting it in a few days after I have had a chance to play it with some of my clients and finalize my opinion and ideas on it.