The 80% Rule Part 3

As your child masters new skills and concepts, there must be sufficient challenge along with successes. If the situation is so easy that the child is responding correctly 100% of the time, she has already learned the task, and the level of difficulty must be advanced.


Success is contagious. Let your child’s joy in each success lead him to conquer new, bigger challenges. In our eagerness to get a child to move ahead rapidly, or in our concern that she may be behind, it is very easy to push too hard or to move the child to a level of difficulty where her responses are most often incorrect. This is self-defeating and must be avoided at all costs. As you and your child work together, it will become increasingly easy for you to adjust the level of difficulty to meet your child’s needs.