Building Gratitude and Empathy in Speech Therapy This Holiday Season

As school-based SLPs, we have the unique opportunity to integrate social-emotional learning within our communication goals. During the holiday season, two powerful themes to explore with students are gratitude and empathy.

According to Merriam-Webster.com, empathy is “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another.”

Why Talk About Gratitude and Empathy With Your Students?
Empathy helps students connect, act kindly, and build positive social behaviors.

Gratitude and empathy are closely linked—feeling thankful can enhance empathy, which in turn fosters compassionate behavior (Kim et al., 2018).

When students share gratitude and acknowledge others, these “social processes” deepen meaning and connection (Wong et al., 2024).

3 Ways to Bring Empathy and Gratitude Into Therapy Sessions

1. Set the Stage for Empathy and Gratitude
Begin by framing your session with purpose. You might say:

• “Today we’re going to talk about what you value and how you respond when someone gives you something you value.”
• “Let’s explore how we see someone else’s world. What might we feel? What might we say?”

2. Use Conversation Prompts for Pragmatic Language Goals
Gratitude Prompts:

• “Name one thing you’re glad someone did for you this week.”
• “What about your day made you feel thankful?”
• “If you could thank someone for something small, what would it be? How would you express your gratitude?”

Empathy Prompts:

• “Imagine your classmate got a low grade. What might they be feeling? What might they wish someone said to them?”
• “When you see someone looking upset or quiet, what could you say to show you notice? How might they respond?”
• “Imagine being new at school or feeling left out—what helped you? How could you help someone else in the same situation?”

3. Practice With Role Play and Scripts
Encourage students to complete empathy- and gratitude-based statements:

• Gratitude Script: “Thank you for helping me with ____. I really appreciated how you ____.”
• Reflect: “How did that feel? What did the other person likely feel?”
• Empathy Script: “I noticed you looked like you might want to talk about ____. I’m here if you need to talk.”
• Ask: “How do you think they might respond? What could you say next?”

Why It Matters
Empathy and gratitude are more than seasonal themes—they are powerful tools in language therapy. They promote communication, connection, and self-reflection. By helping students recognize what they appreciate and how they respond to others’ feelings, you support their expressive and receptive language skills, peer relationships, and sense of purpose.

In your next therapy session, try opening with an empathy or gratitude prompt. You may be surprised by the thoughtful conversations and meaningful connections that follow.

Let empathy and gratitude become part of your therapy toolkit—and you’ll support not only what your students say, but how they relate to one another.

Here’s to sparking conversations this season with empathy and gratitude leading the way!

Author: Ashley Johnson, M.A., CCC-SLP