Lear is learning to print his name. Here he is working on the letter A. He has had good success, until suddenly it gets too hard.

Here is a video that illustrates the use of the three try rule. This is a child that is very prone to frustration and meltdowns when things go wrong. Watch how the teacher keeps frustration low by minimizing corrections and giving him an easier tag point when he was not able to accomplish the current goal after 3 tries.

It is not necessary to allow a learner to fail three times before making a change to the criteria for success. Sometimes only one failed attempt is enough for the teacher to see that she should make a change to avoid fatigue or frustration.