Before starting a series

The practical rules repeated throughout the Watch'n'Learn trainings — worth re-reading before starting a new series with a child.

Three things to read first

Before offering a series to a child: read the series help sheet (the "?" button), the series frame in the app (goal, prerequisites, starting material, targets, remarks) and the text written above each step — it was written for a reason. Do a few exercises of the series yourself before offering it.

Check the prerequisites: the adult's biggest mistake is asking for things that are too difficult. If a motivated child doesn't do it, it's almost always because they haven't understood — reduce the difficulty and observe.

During the exercise

You choose the exercise, but the child starts it. The adult always validates the final panel, never the child.

Zero prompting: never point at the correct image, no physical prompting, no added verbal instruction ("find the same one", "where is…?", "look"). Every help changes the skill being taught. Watch'n'Learn was built to work without prompting: if the child is attentive and each step is mastered before the next, they can do everything on their own.

Never repeat the sentence from the video, don't slow it down, don't write it down: in the natural environment, nobody repeats. The child may replay it via the app if they are actively searching.

Don't stop stereotypies and don't force a child who isn't ready: most of the time the child stops by themselves because the stereotypy prevents them from succeeding. And above all: watch the child, not the iPad — check that they look at the video, then the choices, and that they think.

When an error happens

The app restarts the exercise; you judge: simple inattention (redo the same exercise) or missing skill (step down — fewer choices, previous step, or the teaching exercise for that target — then go back up immediately).

Never repeat an exercise more than 2-3 times; prefer a different exercise from the same step, otherwise the child memorises the answer instead of the skill. After a break or a new session, restart with what was working. Note every error and ask yourself "why this error? what hasn't he understood?" — never mechanical repetition until "the right answer comes out": that's how rote answers are made. Don't reinforce a lucky guess, even if correct.

Reinforcement

The reward video must be worth more than the choice images; adapt it to the child (short videos for children with little patience). Tokens: generally 1 success = 1 token, 10 tokens = the reinforcer (often: playing together). You never take a token away. In the fluency and instruction-following series, tokens come at the end of the block. Reinforce genuine effort even in failure; don't reinforce inattention.

Pronunciation and non-verbal children

Accept any approximation of the target word ("bo" for "ball") as long as you can hear the difference between your child's words — pronunciation improves on its own and is worked on separately. Refuse: added words, omitted words, repetition started before the model has finished, and echoing the sentence when the panel shows something else.

Non-verbal child: level 1 is fully accessible (nothing to say); skip the naming steps (say the word yourself and validate). Watch'n'Learn teaches comprehension, not speech — many children have started speaking with Watch'n'Learn, but there is no guarantee.

Pace and organisation

2 × 15 minutes per day (up to 2 × 30 depending on the child). Beyond that, the child saturates and no longer retains. A board of 10 tokens ≈ 5 minutes, then 3-5 minutes of play.

One demanding series at a time (Sentence teaching, Simple Action matching, the echoics…): while teaching it, don't work on another "thinking" series — only alternate with mastered visual series (Puzzle, Object-Colour matching). Do the mandatory series in the order of the guide; the optional ones serve as remediation. The last series of a domain is the hardest: if the child succeeds at it, the previous ones are acquired.

In the object-matching series you can pick and move fast. In the action series, the remediation series and all of level 2: do all the exercises — everyone who rushes always has to go back. Stop before saturation (signs: worse answers than before, words from previous trials popping up).

Testing or teaching

First test what the child knows (start with the Q- exercises, or ask "what is it?" yourself) to choose the useful exercises. The test series (Riddles, the fluencies, Cheval) are not prompted and not repeated: on failure, move on, and go back to teach in the relevant series.

Reading exercise titles

W- = 3 panels: see + hear → point → name (the 3 points of the W). AI-/ANI- = identical / non-identical matching. LR- = hear → point. LRT- = LR + name on the 3rd panel. Q- = question → answer. IT- = complex question (3 targets to hold). C1…C4 = number of choices. T0/T2/T5/T8/T10/T20 = waiting time in seconds. +I/+M/+F = the target is at the beginning / middle / end. F1/F2/F4 = number of targets to hold. Asterisk + number = number of words in the sentence (except "Echoiques phrases": number of syllables). Title too long: rest your finger on it. Reading child: hide the titles (eye icon).

Reporting a problem

Error in an exercise: give the series, the step number and the exercise number, ideally with a short video.