I was fortunate enough to be provided with a copy of the
game, “Should I or Shouldn’t I?” which is part of the Social Thinking
products. This game is designed to
encourage social thinking and social problem solving. I was provided with the middle and high
school edition. Since I don’t currently
work with that population, I will explain this game for you and then explain
how I plan on using it with the population I do work with (elementary
students).
Who would benefit
from this activity?
Students in a social skills group and working on
understanding others perspectives and working on problem solving skills would
benefit tremendously with this activity.
But you can also use with articulation and fluency students as
well! This is a great activity to get
students talking!!
What does this game
come with?
- Instructions
- Prompt Card Desk with 100 cards
- Challenge Card Deck with 50 cards
- 6 sets of Voting Cards (numbers 1-5 in each set)
- 6 copies of the “Should I or Shouldn’t I?” Behavior Scale
Ages & Players
Game questions, events, and scenarios are geared toward
middle/high school students, ages 12-18.
But you can pull out cards that would work well with older elementary (I
recommend higher cognitive levels).
This game can be played with 1-6 players (therefore perfect
for individual sessions as well as full speech groups).
What other materials
would you need?
- Paper & pencil/pen (to keep score) which you could also use a dry erase board or whatever board you have in your therapy room
- Timer (any kind of timer, they suggested a visual timer if needed and if you have one)
Object of the game
Students will have to think about their own thoughts and
behaviors as well as others during various situations they would
encounter. Match the other players’
responses to the situations described on the prompt cards to score points and
win! **Therefore, students who can
comprehend what others would say will win!!
Creativity will not win this game, understanding others will!
Recommended
preparation
Pull out all cards that your students may not comprehend or
is too advanced.
You may want to discuss the different situations or
vocabulary ahead of time to make sure all students understand terms used in the
activity.
Set up a scoring sheet with all students participating.
Shuffle the prompt cards and challenge cards together to
form one deck of cards.
Explain or remind students about how to play and object of
the game.
Review the behavior scale with students. Review vocabulary and concepts to make sure
students understand before starting the game.
Provide students with a model or practice round. Show how you would read the card and then
rate the behaviors using the options on the behavior scale.
Have students agree or disagree with your
choice and express why. Now that you
have modeled how to read a card, express an answer, use the behavior scale, and
have other students agree/disagree and explain why, you are ready to play!!
Playing the game
- Each player will select a set of color-coded voting cards and a behavior scale. Students will hold the voting cards and they will keep the behavior scale on table in front of them.
- Each player will take turns picking a card from the deck.
- Students will read the prompt card. The rest of the group will look at their behavior scale and come up with their response and pick a voting card to match their response. They will place their voting card face down in front of them. Once all the players have voted, they player that picked the card will call “flip” and all players will turn over their voting cards to share their responses and tell the group how he would rate the behavior according to the scale. The players who voted in the majority will earn a point. If there is no majority, no one will earn a point for that round.
**An example of a prompt card: “Someone in your social studies class is passing notes to another
classmate. You tell the teacher.”
- If a player picks a challenge card, the player must attempt to answer the questions with a response that would be rated either a 1 or a 2 according to their behavior scale. No other players can participate for this round. The teacher/therapist/facilitator will determine if this response earns a point.
**An example of a challenge card: “How do you know if you have a crush on someone?”
- Game is over when a player earns a certain amount of points, selected by you, or if time runs out and then points are tallied to determine a winner!
What is this behavior
scale you keep talking about!?
This card/scale rates behaviors from 1-5 using a continuum.
1: Behaviors that make others have good thoughts.
2: Behaviors that are fine or okay.
3: Behaviors that make others have weird thoughts.
4: Behaviors that make others feel annoyed.
5: Behaviors that are against the rules.
Under each category, students are provided with further
details and explanations to help them comprehend.
Things I like about
this game/activity:
- It provides a lot of opportunities for students to think about different social situations and what they would do.
- It allows for understanding what others would think/say/do.
- It targets the older students which is a hard population to prepare for/find materials for.
- It can be used with fluency and articulation students. You can use this activity with younger fluency/articulation students as long as you pull the situation cards that are age-appropriate.
- Motivating game with a way to earn points/have a winner.
- Easy to adapt this game for your needs.
- Tons of follow-up activities can be used after using this activity: discussions about which situations did they not understand, vocabulary building activities, role playing activities, and understanding how others think about each situation.
- You can even have students learn how different people would respond to different situations (teachers, principals, doctors, students, criminals, etc.)
**I definitely recommend this activity to those working with
middle/high school students as well as those working on social skills.
**I hope they develop a similar version designed for younger students!!
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