Say it or Think it: Social Filter!

Think it or Say it?

updated 3/2024

I have so many students working on the social filter or “think it or say it?” skill in speech therapy. These are students who either cannot regulate their emotions nor take the perspective of another person, so they end of blurting out hurtful messages that would be better left as thoughts? They hurt or insult others when this was NOT their intention. We might all be guilty of this sometimes! These students can benefit from interventions related to using their social filter.

Autism and related disorders. Many students with autism have inherent difficulties with appraising social situations and taking the perspective of another person.
Impulsivity: Students with attention difficulties may be impulsive and say whatever comes into their heads.
Mental health and emotional regulation problems: Students with mental health challenges and difficulties regulating their emotions may get so caught up in their anger or depressed feelings that they cannot take the perspective of another person. This type of student may do well on say it or think it tasks about people other than themselves but when caught up in a moment of anger in a situation that is pertinent to them, may have difficulties taking using their social filter. With these types of students, I find it important to do two things:

Encourage them (or their parents) to share difficulties or examples of times when they haven’t used their social filter due to their inability to regulate their emotions. Dissect these situations during speech therapy using a comic strip template.
Take advantage of situations as they come up. If a student wants to share an incident or situation that was challenging for them, that is awesome! Don’t just direct them to their counselor-use it as an opportunity during speech therapy to look at the perspective of others in the situation and recognize any difficulties with using their filter that may have contributed to the situation.

Julia Cook’s Book: “I can’t believe you just said that.”

Julia Cook’s books are an SLPs best friend! In this story, R.J. gets into trouble at school for rude and insensitive comments. His parents help him use his social filter. This book is geared for K-3 but I have definitely used it with students older that this too. This book is a great introduction to using a social filter. There is also a brief introduction to the book in this youtube clip!

2. Everyday Speech Video: Think it or Say it?

This youtube video is 3:05 minutes long and it features children that appear to be older elementary or middle school age. I’ve used it to introduce the topic of a social filter and you could also “dissect” it as a therapy task.

3. Max on Parenthood

This youtube video is :55 long and features a high school student in a classroom that is providing too much information to answer a question in class and he doesn’t pick up on cues from the teacher.

4. The Social Filter

Mr. Schlaff, guidance counselor explains the social filter with the help of other adults and high school students. It is 7:32 long. They use a screen to demonstrate how a filter works, explain the neurology of the filter and give examples of how it looks when someone doesn’t use their filter.

5. Hands-on Activities and Visuals

Use a real strainer or funnel show how a social filter might work. Write down the “thought” and put it through the funnel. Have the student analyze the thought and decide if it should remain a “thought” or go through the funnel and be words that are heard by others.

I have social filter diagrams/visuals in my subscriber’s library, free when you sign up here for my newsletter!

subscriber's resource library, badger state speechy, teaching s blends

6. Social Filter Think it or Say it Boom Cards:

Check out these sets of boom cards that can be used for teaching and practicing use of a social filter. For “Boom Cards: Think it or Say it? Elementary,” click here. For the middle school and high school “think it or say it” version with longer and more complex scenarios for older students, click here! Not familiar with boom cards? Click here for more information! They are perfect for brick and mortar speech therapy or teletherapy.

7. Teach the Criteria!

Provide students with a framework for how to differentiate between topics or comments that are better left as thoughts and those that are ok to say to others! This visual from my say it or think it boom cards might help:

think it or say it, speech therapy, social skills, pragmatics, social filter, autism

Given a hypothetical social scenario, student will identify whether a statement is best as a “thought” or “expressed words” in 8/10 scenarios, over three sessions.
Given an actual social scenario presented to clinician by student or related adult, student will a) identify at least one thought or emotion of another person in the scenario, and b) use a comic strip template to dissect situation and provide one insightful comment regarding his/her own behavior in 4/5 actual scenarios.