My Conversation Toolkit

Conversations can feel different depending on the person, place, topic, and situation. This worksheet helps you notice what supports you, choose strategies that feel useful, and prepare for a real conversation. You do not need to use every strategy, and there is no single correct way to communicate.

Why this toolkit is evidence informed

This toolkit combines established educational approaches with evidence gathered from Bridgewell’s SFF Conversations sessions. This matters because communication strategies should respond to how learners actually process, participate, and practice—not simply require them to follow fixed social rules. The goal is to help each student discover practical strategies that support confidence, self-awareness, and greater independence in real conversations.

What the toolkit includes

• Notice What Helps — Start with the student’s experience and strengths.
• Start and Stay — Plan how to enter and continue a conversation using Ask–Share–Ask.
• Shift — Prepare for confusion, change, discomfort, or an ending with repair, boundary, regulation, or exit strategies.
• Finish My Toolkit — Choose the strategies that are personally useful in different situations.
• Try and Reflect — Use one strategy in a manageable real-life conversation and reflect on what was learned.

The worksheet is designed to be used flexibly. Students may write, speak, point, ask someone to write, take a break, or complete one section at a time. Parents and support people can listen first and help the student think and practise without scoring, correcting, or taking over.