Listening Strategies: Ask, Picture, Say It Back
Strategy practice. Each item plays a short classroom moment with the words hidden and asks what a good listener could do next: ask for a repeat, make a picture in their head, or say it back in their own words.
This device has no voice — read the passage aloud to the student.
Open your book to page forty two and read the first paragraph.
You missed the page number. What could you say?
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
Introduce the three strategies by name before you start: ask, picture, say it back. Press Listen, then read the question aloud or press its speaker. After a picture question, ask the student to describe the picture they made. After a say it back question, have them say it in their own voice, not just choose. Practise the asking choices out loud, since saying them is what makes them usable in class.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPress Listen so the student hears the passage with the words hidden; play it again before giving any other help, and show the words only as a later support. Present the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- PromptAsk 'What's your first step?' or 'What would you say here?'Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two responses and talk through which one fits the situation better.Log as cued
- ModelRole-play it yourself first, then the student tries it.Log as cued
Adjust it
Give the student a written script to read from during the role-play.
Drop the script, and play a less helpful partner who asks a follow-up question.
Matching IEP goal
Given a real-life scenario, Student will give a clear, appropriate response in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one prompt.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
A strategy board for the moments when listening breaks down. Each item plays a short classroom moment with the words hidden, such as open your book to page forty two or birds migrate south in the fall, and asks what a good listener could do next. The choices practise three strategies a student can use anywhere: asking for a repeat or for the meaning of a word like migrate, making a picture in their head, and saying the directions back in their own words.
What to listen for
Notice whether the student is comfortable choosing to ask for help, since some students see asking as getting it wrong. Listen to their own say it back versions for the key steps. Watch whether their mental pictures include the details that matter, like the red scarf and the carrot nose. Track whether they begin using these strategies during the ladder steps without a reminder.
Carrying it home
At home, give a direction with two steps and ask your child to say it back in their own words. Describe something and ask what picture they made in their head. When they miss something you said, praise them for asking you to say it again instead of guessing.
What's in this activity
- You missed the page number. What could you say?
- Can you say the page again?
- I do not care
- Nothing
- Which one says the directions back in your own words?
- Books are fun
- Read the first part on page forty two
- What is a paragraph
- Which picture would you make in your head?
- A cat asleep on a bed
- A dog eating dinner
- A dog splashing in a muddy puddle
- The teacher talked fast and you lost the last step. What could you do?
- Ask her to say the last step again
- Guess and hope
- Start a different task
- Which one says it back in your own words?
- I like blue paper
- Cut and glue the shapes then put my name on the back
- Shapes are hard
- You heard a word you do not know. What could you ask?
- Can we have recess?
- Is it lunch yet?
- What does migrate mean?
- Birds flying south to a warm place
- Birds building a nest
- Birds eating seeds
- It is too noisy to hear. What could you do?
- Cover your ears
- Move closer and ask again
- Leave the room
- Class is over
- I need a pencil
- Pick a partner and a topic before class ends
- A snowman with a carrot nose and a red scarf
- A snowman melting in the sun
- A pile of red scarves
Questions
- Who is this for?
- Students in grades 2 through 6 who need ways to repair a listening breakdown and to check their own understanding.
- How does the listening part work?
- Each question has a Listen button that reads the passage aloud with the words hidden. The student can listen again, and you can show the words as a support. On a device with no voice the words appear so you can read them aloud yourself.
- Can I change the passages?
- Yes. Open it in the Activity Studio to edit a passage or a question, add your own, or reorder them, and the board keeps the listening button.
- Is it free?
- Yes. It plays free in the browser with no login. An account adds session data, goal scoring and assignment to a student.
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.