Errorless Learning sets students up for success and is a great option for students who need immediate positive feedback.
But what is Errorless Learning and what students will benefit from this type of teaching technique?
Today I am going to teach you all about Errorless Learning, answer your most important questions, share examples of Errorless Learning activities, and give you a few freebies that you can implement tomorrow.
Are you ready?!
What is Errorless Learning?
Errorless learning is a skill learning activity in which the student can not get the answer incorrect. Prompts are given to the child to ensure the correct, immediate response. Over time, this prompt is faded (as with any prompt on the hierarchy).
Errorless activities allow a student to focus on the task and success of performing the task independently, and not so much choosing the wrong answer (because in Errorless Learning there is no wrong answer!)
Errorless activities are also great for initial introduction to a new task, like Adapted Work Binders® or adapted books. Ya know, to learn how the new task works or how to perform an item… before worrying about how to do the task AND get the answer correct. #lessstress
Who is Errorless Learning for?
Any student who is prone to making mistakes, students who display behaviors when presented with a task, or a student who is working towards independence at a task. Students who also have poor matching identical images, or pieces, may also benefit from Errorless Learning.
Errorless learning helps increase student participation as well. Because students can not get an answer incorrect, they feel successful. Success breeds confidence at a task, and when students feel confident at a task, they are more likely to willingly participate (without escape behaviors). And when students participate, it gives you, the teacher, more opportunities for praise.
How do you prompt fade in Errorless Learning?
Any prompt is part of the antecedent of the task (antecedent > behavior > consequence). And as with any level of prompting, we want to always begin with the least intrusive prompt that will help ensure the student provides a correct response.
The least intrusive prompt will be different for each student.
Over time you will begin to fade the prompts given to the student (as the student works towards mastery of the skill), until minimal or no prompts are needed to complete the task.
For a free prompt hierarchy printable and to learn more about the prompting hierarchy, click here.
What do Errorless Learning activities look like?
Errorless activities can be any type of activity or resource, including but not limited to Adapted Work Binders®, adapted books, task cards, file folder games, or stationary work mats.
This free Errorless Pumpkin Patch File Folder, which you can download here, is one great way to introduce the task of file folder games and activities, or provide a seasonal file folder task for your students to complete successfully.
{ Find more Errorless File Folder Activities here. }
Adapted Work Binders® are another great way to introduce students to Errorless Learning. You can put these free Shape Adapted Work Binder® workpages in a binder or bind them together to create an activity book. At the same time students are learning about shapes (you could even introduce colors at a later date), students are also learning how to be successful and independent at the task.
I will say that matching multiple images on a workpage that are different from one another, like the picture above, is not a true Errorless Learning task. It is a logical step to what your students will be able to accomplish next, after mastering the errorless task.
{ Find more Errorless Adapted Work Binder® activities here. }
Want to introduce your students to the world of task boxes? Give these free errorless color task boxes a try. Have students match identical color circles, or have students match an object of that color.
Errorless task boxes are a great place to start because you can put just a few tasks inside of a box, and no two boxes have to be the same. If a student becomes easily overwhelmed, simply place 2-4 task cards inside of a box. For students who have more stamina, add more task card prompts inside of the box. Task boxes are great for building stamina, as well as confidence, success, and independence.
{ Find more Errorless Task Box Activities here. }
Adapted books might be one of my absolute favorite types of resources to implement in a classroom.
The different between errorless adapted books and “regular” adapted books are the answer pieces. In an errorless learning book, students are moving the same image onto different pages (as shown above). Again, it’s all about success rate.
{ Find more Errorless Adapted Book activities here. }
{ Download the Errorless Learning Starter Pack for FREE here. }
There are so many other ways to incorporate Errorless Learning into your classroom. And different activity types that may be just as beneficial to your students as the ones shown in the blog post.
Do you use Errorless Learning your classroom? Share your experiences using EL in the comments below!
