Something I’ve been trying to incorporate more into therapy is errorless activities. These are things that are basically just as they sound… tasks that students can complete without getting an incorrect response. I see a lot of posts online about using these tasks in special education classes in independent work stations, which is such an amazing way to help encourage independence! But, I wanted to share how I’ve been using these in speech (even in individual therapy!) to encourage independence and to build confidence while reinforcing new skills!
1) Core Words: My errorless activities are symbol supported, meaning that there are symbols paired with the written directions to help support visual learners and AAC users. These activities consistently target “put in/on”. I pair these activities with my students’ core boards and AAC devices to practice using these phrases.
2) Reinforcers: For my kids who are working on drill tasks such as articulation, I use these as reinforcers! I will have my kids say their words X amount of times, then give them an item for the errorless mat, and have them put it on the mat. Once the mat fills up, we have completed our words.
3) Prepositions: My errorless mats have picture scenes in the background, which makes targeting prepositions a great goal! I will give the pieces to the student and tell them where to put each piece (i.e. Put the cow on top of the farm). Once all of the pieces are attached, you can also practice having them label pronouns by asking “where” questions. You can also have your students identify prepositions (i.e. “Find the cow that is under the tree”). So many opportunities to practice prepositions and location phrases!
4) Increasing Independence: If you are working with students on completing tasks independently or encouraging them to ask for help when they need it, errorless tasks are a great way to start. You can hand the mat and all of the pieces to the student and instruct them to complete the page. Allow them to work on the task and ask for help if they are unsure of how to complete the task, or need help with the Velcro. You can work on phrases like “I’m done” and “I did it” to help build confidence and encourage longer utterances!
5) Following Directions: There are tons of ways to use errorless tasks to target following directions. I like to give the child all of the pieces as well as the mat. I ask the student to put the piece on the board, take another piece off of the board, put one piece in a cup, put two pieces on the board, put a piece on their head, etc.! You can think of things on the spot, and it can be a fun and silly way to target lots of goals.
I hope this gave you some ideas to start incorporating errorless/open-ended activities into your speech room! Let me know some of your ideas! And click HERE to check out my seasonal errorless activities in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!
Chloe Elizabeth SLP 