The simplest treatment alternative: the law of parsimony applied to choosing appropriate instructional control and errorless-learning procedures for the difficult-to-teach child.
Use the lightest prompt that works—step up to errorless fading only when errors persist.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Friedling et al. (1979) wrote a how-to guide, not a lab test.
They lined up teaching tactics from light to heavy.
Trial-and-error sits at the easy end.
Errorless stimulus fading sits at the heavy end.
The rule: try the easiest step that still works.
If the child fails, move one rung up the ladder.
What they found
The paper gives a road map, not new data.
It says start simple and add help only when needed.
This keeps learning fast and avoids extra prompts.
How this fits with other research
Later studies tested the ladder rung by rung.
Rutter et al. (1987) and Mosk et al. (1984) both showed stimulus shaping beats lighter prompts for hard-to-teach kids.
Their data back the paper’s advice to climb the ladder when errors stay high.
Older work had already proved the top rung works.
Fantino (1968) and Schneider et al. (1967) found fading cut errors far below trial-and-error for children with severe ID.
Friedling et al. (1979) simply bundled those wins into one clear decision tree.
Mulder et al. (2020) later counted 28 studies and agreed: fading is still the go-to for errorless discrimination.
No clash shows up; the ladder idea still stands.
Why it matters
You now have a quick checklist.
Start with trial-and-error for easy skills.
If errors top 20 % or learning stalls, jump to stimulus fading or shaping.
Stop climbing once the child hits 80 % correct for two sessions.
This saves you from over-prompting and keeps reinforcement rates high.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A method for choosing effective teaching procedures for difficult-to-teach children is proposed. Assessment of child responses during teaching that involves gradually increasing environmental support in the learning setting is the basis for choice. The levels of environmental support in which child responses are assessed are (1) trial-and-error procedures; (2) increased environmental support involving analyses of reinforcement systems, incompatible responses, and prerequisite skills, as well as the most effective use of instructional control; and (3) errorless-learning procedures. Effects of instructions upon learning are discussed in terms of instructional detail and pacing, as well as with respect to the role of instructions in feedback and progressively delayed cue procedures. Stimulus shaping and stimulus fading are discussed in terms of the effectiveness of each for teaching children who have difficulty learning with more traditional procedures. The importance of the incorporation of criterion-related cues when utilizing stimulus shaping or fading is emphasized. It is proposed that an assessment of child responses should be made with respect to the three general levels of environmental support, as well as from sublevels within these, in order to choose the simplest but still effective alternative procedure for teaching difficult-to-teach children.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1979 · doi:10.1007/BF01531445