Goal: Make Inferences Based on Text or Social Cues

Sample Goal:

In Text:

After reading a text, Client will make an appropriate inference from the text and refer to details and examples in the text when explaining how he/she drew that inference on four of five observe opportunities.

Social Inferencing:

After reading, watching, or hearing a description of a social scenario, Client will use social cues plus background information to make an appropriate inference of what has happened or is happening on four of five observed opportunities.

Download the No-Prep Therapy Kit:

We have a start-to-finish therapy kit that will give you everything you need to practice this skill in therapy and send home homework. Click the packet below to open it. Then, print it out and place it in the child’s notebook or binder.

Open the No-Prep Kit
Making Inferences

Therapy Phases:

Define: Client will define inferencing as “using observations or clues along with background knowledge to make a guess about what has happened or what is happening”.
Make Inferences from Pictures: When presented with a picture, Client will make an appropriate inference by combining observations/clues from the picture along with his/her background knowledge on four of five observed opportunities.
Make Inferences from Pictures with Text: When presented with a picture + text (captions or speech/thought bubbles), Client will make an appropriate inference by combining observations/clues from the picture/text along with his/her background knowledge on four of five observed opportunities.
Inferences from Text: When presented with a short paragraph/story, Client will make an appropriate inference by combining observations/clues from the text along with his/her background knowledge on four of five observed opportunities.
Social Inferencing: When presented with a social scenario (video or description), Client will make an appropriate inference by combining observations/social cues from the scenario along with his/her background knowledge on four of five observed opportunities.

Disclaimer (For Copy and Paste): Feel free to copy and paste these sample goals into your plan but make sure you modify them to meet the individual needs of the child. This should include individualized level of cueing, such as "independently" or "with verbal prompts".

Supplemental Materials

Here are some other resources that may help you when working on this skill:

Making Inferences from Pictures

The easiest way to practice this is to start by making inferences based on pictures. Then, once the child is able to make inferences about pictures, you can move on to having the child make inferences about text. This worksheet pack will help the child learn to make inferences about pictures.

Training Videos:

Need some extra help on treating this skill? Check out these related training videos:

Goal Ideas for a 4th Grader with Social Deficits (Including Social Inferencing)

Webinar Recordings:

If you need some in-depth information related to this skill, check out our related webinar recording(s):

Therapy Ideas for Teaching Abstract Language – Webinar Recording

This webinar includes three different types of abstract language and the first third of the webinar focuses on teaching inferences. This is a great resource for learning how to teach this skill!