Disagreeing Respectfully
Hold a position without ending the relationship -- rehearsed language, not general advice.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Give the student something to disagree with that they actually disagree with. Rehearsing polite disagreement about nothing produces polite nothing; take a position they will object to and let them use the phrases under real pressure. The rewrite task is the most useful item on the board — turning you're wrong into something a conversation survives is a concrete skill and produces a phrase the student owns. Fifteen minutes with a real argument in it.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentSet up the situation and wait for the student to respond on their own.Log as correct
- Nonverbal cueUse a look, a gesture or a point to the visual cue card.Log as cued
- Indirect promptAsk 'What could you say now?' or 'How do you think they feel?'Log as cued
- ModelShow what to say or do, then run the moment again so the student can try it.Log as cued
Adjust it
Give a script or two choices of what to say, and practise with you before a peer.
Role-play with a new partner, or add a twist the student has not planned for.
Matching IEP goal
In structured role-plays, Student will use the target conversation skill appropriately in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a nonverbal cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Eight lines for holding a position without ending the relationship: I see it differently — can I explain why? That's fair, but I'd add… I don't think that's right. What are you basing it on? I'm not going to agree on this one, and that's okay. Plus two harder tasks: rewrite you're wrong so it stays a conversation, and decide when it is better to say nothing at all.
What to listen for
Listen for the two halves. A good disagreement acknowledges the other position and then states a different one — that's fair, but — and students typically produce one half or the other. Watch for the phrases being used to avoid disagreeing rather than to do it; can we come back to this later is a legitimate move and can become a way out of every position.
Carrying it home
Let the teenager win something occasionally. A disagreement phrase that never changes an outcome stops getting used, and the family is where most disagreements happen.
What's in this activity
- 'I see it differently -- can I explain why?'
- 'That's fair, but I'd add...'
- 'I don't think that's right. What are you basing it on?'
- 'I'm not going to agree on this one, and that's okay.'
- 'Can we come back to this later?'
- 'I hear you. Here's what's bugging me about it.'
- Rewrite 'you're wrong' so it stays a conversation.
- When is it better to say nothing at all?
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Ninth through twelfth grade, where social consequences for disagreeing badly are real and immediate.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all eight cards are free to use with no account.
- When is it better to say nothing?
- That is the last card, and it is genuinely open. Knowing when a disagreement is not worth having is part of the skill, and a student who always speaks is as constrained as one who never does.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.