Inferences : Sometimes guessing is good!

When a child gets to 3rd - 5th grade, one great foundation for social language, and for any higher level language skills like predicting, finding the main idea, thinking about the author's main idea, etc., is the ability to make inferences

Inferences are educated guesses. And there are two main components that go into whether a child can make good inferences-

1. Can they hone in on key details or "hints"

2. Can they remember those details and hints

3. Can they then use those details to take a guess that makes sense?

Guessing games, like Hedbanz, Charades, and Taboo, are really great for practicing inferencing skills. A child has to take into account certain information, and then take a leap based on that information.

Another really great way to practice inferences is to read detective stories, or watch age - appropriate detective shows or movies.

In all of the above easy activities, all you have to do is ask your child - "what hints do you see?" and "what can you guess" to sow the foundation for applying inferencing in more academic contexts.

More intense inference practice is something an SLP will probably do in therapy, if it is identified as an area of need. There are many worksheets and workbooks focusing on this skill as well.

And finally - if you want a worksheet with some examples, etc- check out Smarter Speech's "Doggone Inferences" on TPT! Or, check out "Doggone Multiple Interpretations" which shows how to make multiple guesses based on facts / details.

And finally, if you want to practice how to APPLY inferences and multiple interpretations, towards comforting friends, and saying nice things, at say, recess check out "Comforting Friends" as well!

Happy Talking!

Disclaimer : Smarter Speech is a pediatric speech therapy / speech-language pathology practice for toddlers and children providing in-home and teletherapy services in and around Mountain View, CA and Los Gatos, CA. Smarter Speech Blog aims to provide free speech and language tips for parents educators and therapists. However, this post is not providing speech-language pathology services. This is general information, not speech -language pathology or speech therapy. This article does not assume or create a client – SLP relationship. The author is not liable for any losses or damages due to actions or failure to act based on the content in this article. If you need assistance with a child’s speech or language needs, please contact a speech-language pathologist in your area.