Listening to Others Task Cards | Social Skills, SEL Activities, Inference & Empathy Practice for Special Education

Teach one of the most essential social-emotional learning (SEL) skills, listening to others, with this comprehensive set of Listening Task Cards!

Designed especially for special education, speech therapy, and upper elementary classrooms, this resource helps students practice listening for details, using inferential thinking, and responding with empathy. With 100 scenarios across multiple levels, students are challenged to listen carefully, understand meaning, and consider how others might be feeling in real-life situations.

Why Teachers Love This Resource:

• Differentiated Levels – Includes 3 levels of listening practice:

  • Level 1: Basic detail questions

  • Level 2: Added detail-rich scenarios

  • Level 3: Inference-based questions that require higher-order thinking

  • BONUS: Empathy-focused scenarios written in the first-person voice to help students build compassion and perspective-taking skills

• Perfect for Special Education & SEL: Supports students with autism, ADHD, language processing needs, and social communication challenges.

• Flexible & Easy to Use: Ideal for morning meetings, counseling groups, SEL lessons, speech therapy sessions, centers, or partner work.

• Engaging & Realistic Scenarios: School, peer, family, and community contexts that feel authentic and meaningful to students.

What’s Included:

✔ 100 Listening to Others Task Cards
✔ Scenarios at 3 levels of complexity + empathy cards
✔ Printable (color or black/white) & easy-to-prep format
✔ Teacher directions and suggestions for use

How to Use in Your Classroom:

• Whole Group – Use as a quick SEL warm-up or circle time discussion starter.

• Small Groups or 1:1 – Perfect for social skills instruction, counseling, and special education support.

• Centers or Independent Work – Students can read scenarios and answer prompts independently or with peers.

• Virtual Learning – Project cards on screen for remote lessons or teletherapy.

Why This Skill Matters:

Listening is the foundation of communication, friendship, and learning. By practicing with these cards, students will:

• Improve active listening and attention skills

• Strengthen comprehension and inferencing

• Build empathy and perspective-taking

• Gain confidence in responding appropriately in social situations

Support your students in becoming thoughtful, attentive, and empathetic listeners, with a resource that is fun, flexible, and research-based.

Research Connections

This resource is grounded in evidence-based practices from social-emotional learning (SEL) and special education research:

• Active Listening – CASEL identifies listening and perspective-taking as core to social awareness and relationship skills.

• Scaffolded Learning – Breaking skills into levels (details → inference → empathy) mirrors research on effective instruction for students with autism, ADHD, and other learning differences.

• Scenario-Based Practice – Studies show that role-play and real-world scenarios strengthen comprehension, problem-solving, and social communication.

• Empathy Development – Research highlights that explicitly teaching children to consider others’ feelings helps build compassion, reduce conflict, and improve peer relationships.

By aligning with these evidence-based strategies, this resource provides teachers with a practical, engaging, and research-supported way to help students grow their listening and empathy skills.