Identifying Emotions

This is a very important part of social interactions.  Without recognizing others' emotions it is impossible to interact appropriately.  During a 10 minute conversation a person may experience a variety of emotions: anger, sadness, happiness, boredom, irritation, frustration, surprise, and on and on.  When we sense our conversation partner's feelings it impacts the way that we continue the conversation.  If they appear mad, we may apologize and change the topic.  If they appear happy, we may continue with the current topic.  If they appear to be bored, we may change topics or conclude the conversation.  Etc. 
Many children have difficulty with recognizing emotion.  This is a hallmark of persons with Aspergers Syndrome.  Recognizing emotions is an important part of social language therapy.
Start basic: sad, mad, and happy are the easiest emotions to recognize.  Get photos of persons with each emotion and have the pt identify the person's emotion.  If they have difficulty, prompt them.  Point out key features of their face like a smile for happy.  You can then add other emotions that are more difficult.  Once they can recognize emotions in pictures it is time to try in real life.  Have them encounter different people in the clinic, school, or other therapy setting that you have asked to appear to have different emotions when you bring your client by.  Then return to the room and have them tell you each person's emotion.  This is the first step in perspective taking-you have to recognize first!