At school

Lining up, hands up, hats on, a wiped table. The reasons a classroom does what it does.

Ready to look?

Why is that happening at school?

For grown-ups

Faces are not the answer

A feeling is never the thing to be worked out here. When a question says somebody is upset, that is given — what the child has to find is the event that caused it, and it is always an object or something that has happened elsewhere in the picture. A resource that asked a child to read the cause off a mouth would be teaching them that faces are a lookup table, and faces are not: the same expression on the same person means different things on different afternoons.

That matters most for the children this is written for. A child who has been taught to decode expressions and act on the decoding will be wrong often, in front of people, and will conclude that they are bad at people. Working from the events in a scene is both more reliable and more teachable.

What this practises

Answering “why?” — the question children are asked constantly and are rarely taught how to approach.
Noticing the evidence in front of them, rather than guessing at what an adult wants to hear.
Joining a cause to an effect out loud, in a full sentence: this happened because that happened.
Working out what somebody is trying to do, which is a different skill from working out how they feel.
Reading a situation from what is in it, rather than from an assumption about a face.

Four things to ask

“What can you see?”
“What happened?”
“What clue helped you?”
“So why did that happen?”

They work away from the screen too — on a photo, out of a car window, or on whatever has just happened in the kitchen.

How to use it

Sit next to your child rather than opposite them. This works best as a thing you do together.
Read the question aloud if that helps. Nothing here needs to be read independently.
Ask “what can you see?” before the answers. Naming the picture is half the work.
Six pictures is a session. Stopping after two is a fine session too.

If your child is stuck

Use the clue button rather than the answer. It points at part of the picture without saying what it means, which leaves the working to your child — and the working is the part that transfers. If they are still stuck after that, describe what you can see out loud (“there's a cup on its side there”) and let them make the link.

There is no score

Nothing is counted, marked or saved. A child who taps two answers before the third has done the activity exactly as intended — the explanation is the point, not the tap, and it is shown whichever answer they choose.

Everything here is one ordinary way things tend to go, not a rule. This is an educational resource, not therapy or medical advice.

At school

Why did Mei stop writing? — Two children at a classroom desk. A pencil lies on the desk in two pieces. The other child is still writing with a whole one.
Why is Tabi looking at the pegs? — Two children at the hallway pegs. One peg has a coat hanging on it. The peg beside it is bare. Tabi's hands are empty and she is looking up at the row.
Why is Ravi looking in his bag? — A boy sitting at a classroom desk with an open bag on the floor beside him. His book and a sheet of paper are already out on the desk. The girl next to him holds a pencil out towards him.
Why did Kit stop at the door? — Two children by a hallway door. One sun hat is still hanging on a hook and the other child is carrying hers. A ball sits on the floor by the door, a book lies on the bench, and Kit's hands are empty.
Why did Sam fetch a cloth? — A boy walking towards a lunch table with a cloth in his hand. Spilled drink is spread across the table top with a cup beside it. Another child sits at the far end.
Why did Arlo put his hand up? — Two children at a craft table. One has his hand raised. The sheet in front of him is torn across the middle. A pair of scissors lies on the table and the other child is holding the glue.
What is Nia trying to do? — A girl walking between classroom desks with a pile of paper in her hands. One desk already has a sheet on it. The next desk has only a pencil on it.
Why did Jo stop walking? — A girl standing still in a classroom with her bag in her hand. A chair lies on its side on the floor in front of her. Another child sits at a desk further along.
Why is Mei leaving the queue? — Two children by a canteen counter. A closed sign hangs above it and nobody is behind the counter. One child has turned away from the queue.

Everything here is one ordinary way things tend to go, not a rule. This is an educational resource, not therapy or medical advice.