Children on the autism spectrum can find difficulty in mastering the long-term goal of labeling facial expressions as feelings. The ability to interpret facial expressions in order to gauge emotions is an important skill for children to have in social and family environments. Being able to form the connection between different facial expressions and feelings can help your child navigate social situations and conversations. However, it is best to begin forming this association outside of social situations by helping your child learn how to label facial expressions as feelings one-on-one. You can start with simple emotions (mad, happy, sad, etc.) and practice when your child is calm. 

The following strategies may help your child make progress towards mastering the long-term goal of labeling facial expressions as feelings:

• Tacting with flashcards. There are many different types of flashcards that show people expressing different emotions. These cards can help children on the autism spectrum identify emotions in other people. For example, hold up a picture of a baby crying, and tell your child “baby sad.” Ask your child to repeat. After your child has repeated the word or phrase, try again with a new card and do not provide your child with the correct response. Provide praise when your child is correct. Remember to provide encouragement throughout the activity, even if your child does not provide the correct response, in which case you can provide gentle guidance. Phase out the positive reinforcement when the skill has been sufficiently acquired. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement.

Emotion Flashcards by Together we Wonder | TPT (teacherspayteachers.com)

Emotions-Visuals by Stress-Free SLP | TPT (teacherspayteachers.com)

• Provide different examples and point out differences. To better help your child distinguish the differences between facial expressions, it can be helpful to provide examples and help your child point out the differences. For example, you can show them a picture of someone who is happy and a different picture of  someone who is angry. Ask them to point out differences between the two expressions, such as a happy person is smiling and an angry person is not smiling. Provide positive reinforcement when they successfully point out a difference. Phase out the positive reinforcement when the skill has been sufficiently acquired. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement.
• Practice making facial expressions with your child in the mirror. Sit with your child in front of a mirror with a collection of flashcards with different feelings. Have your child pick a card. Ask your child to make a face in the mirror that shows that emotion. If they are comfortable, ask them to explain how it shows what they are feeling. When they are finished, make your own expression and take your own turn to explain what that expression means. Let them ask questions. Afterwards, study the facial expression on the flashcard. Use gentle encouragement and provide guidance if they are unfamiliar with a word or emotion. This is a good opportunity to also facilitate conversation about what the different feelings mean.
• Additional resources: Determine if videos are age and content appropriate for your child before allowing your child to watch them.

• For the parent:

How to Help Your Child Learn to Read Facial Expressions (understood.org)

Facial Expression Pictures (free printables!) (home.blog)

Facial Expressions Printable - Cut and Paste (Teacher-Made) (twinkl.com)

• For the child:

Your Different Facial Expressions! | Science for Kids | @OperationOuch - YouTube

Reading Facial Expressions Introduction - YouTube

In order to help your child master the long-term goal of labeling facial expressions as feelings, you can work with your child on the short-term goals of labeling a sad facial expression, labeling a happy facial expression, labeling a fearful facial expression, labeling a facial expression of surprise, labeling an angry facial expression, or labeling a facial expression of disgust.

Labeling a Sad Facial Expression

For the short-term goal of labeling a sad facial expression, you can choose a target such as labeling a sad facial expression, identifying the face that is sad out of two pictures, labeling three different emotions, etc.

• Step 1: Decide how you would like your child to learn to label a sad facial expression. For example, you can choose the target of labeling one face that is sad while working on the short-term goal of labeling a sad facial expression. Select an image of a boy who is sad. 
• Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as the image of a frowning cartoon face, or a verbal SD (“Time to learn about what it looks like to be sad!” or “Let’s label a sad face!”).
• Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt independently to label the expression for which you prompted. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. As an example, you can count how many times in a row your child is able to independently label the expression you prompted for. Alternatively, you can count how many times within a given time interval (e.g., 1 min, 2 min, 5 min, etc.) your child was able to independently label the expression you prompted for. 
• Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of labeling one face that is sad), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behavior to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, you can show your child the image (image of a boy who is sad) and say “This boy is sad. He is not smiling.”
• Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many times in a row your child can meet the target of labeling one face that is sad independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to meet the target of labeling one face that is sad independently. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at labeling one face that is sad during a session. 
• Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of labeling one face that is sad by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at labeling one face that is sad over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can label one face that is sad, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.

Labeling a Happy Facial Expression

For the short-term goal of labeling a happy facial expression, you can choose a target such as labeling a happy facial expression, identifying the face that is happy out of two pictures, labeling three different emotions etc.

• Step 1: Decide how you would like your child to learn to label a happy facial expression. For example, you can choose the target of identifying the face that is happy out of two pictures while working on the short-term goal of labeling a happy facial expression. Select 2 pictures as follows: one image of someone who is happy and one image of someone who is fearful. 
• Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as the image of a face with a question mark, or a verbal SD (“Time to see who’s happy!” or “Let’s see who is happy!”).
• Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt independently to identify the face that is happy out of two pictures for which you prompted. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. As an example, you can count how many times in a row your child is able to independently identify the face that is happy out of two pictures you prompted for. Alternatively, you can count how many times within a given time interval (e.g., 1 min, 5 min, 10 min, etc.) your child was able to independently identify the face that is happy out of two pictures you prompted for. 
• Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of identifying the face that is happy out of two pictures), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behavior to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, you can show your child the corresponding image of someone who is happy and say “This person is happy. They are smiling.”
• Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many times in a row your child can meet the target of identifying the face that is happy out of two pictures independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to meet the target of identifying the face that is happy out of two pictures independently. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at identifying the face that is happy out of two pictures during a session. 
• Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of identifying the face that is happy out of two pictures by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at identifying the face that is happy out of two pictures over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can identify the face that is happy out of two pictures, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.

Labeling Surprise / Anger / Disgust Facial Expressions

For the short-term goal of labeling facial expressions of surprise, anger, and disgust, you can choose a target such as labeling a facial expression of surprise, labeling a facial expression of anger, labeling a facial expression of disgust, identifying the face that is surprised out of two pictures, labeling three different emotions, etc.

• Step 1: Decide which facial expressions you would like your child to learn to label. For example, you can choose the target of labeling three different facial expressions (surprise, anger, disgust) while working on the short-term goal of labeling facial expressions of surprise, anger, and disgust. Select 3 pictures as follows: one image of someone who is surprised, one image of someone who is angry, and an image of someone who is disgusted. 
• Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as the image of a thoughtful / questioning cartoon face, or a verbal SD (“Time to label facial expressions!” or “Let’s figure out what they are feeling!”).
• Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt independently to label three different facial expressions for which you prompted. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. As an example, you can count how many times in a row your child is able to independently label the three different facial expressions you prompted for. Alternatively, you can count how many times within a given time interval (e.g., 1 min, 5 min, 10 min, etc.) your child was able to independently label the three different facial expressions you prompted for. 
• Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of labeling three different facial expressions), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behavior to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, you can show your child the 3 corresponding images (images of someone who is surprised, someone who is angry, and someone who is disgusted) and say, while pointing at the appropriate images, “This person is surprised. Their eyebrows are high and their mouth is open. This person is angry. They are not smiling and their eyebrows are pinching together. This person is disgusted. They have a wrinkled forehead and nose bridge, and their upper lip is raised.”
• Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many times in a row your child can meet the target of labeling three different facial expressions independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to meet the target of labeling three different facial expressions independently. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at labeling three different facial expressions during a session. 
• Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of labeling three different facial expressions by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at labeling three different facial expressions over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can label three different facial expressions, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.