Self-Monitoring

1. Identify the behavior you wish to improve. Make sure it is specific, observable, and measurable.
2. Collect baseline data on the student’s target behavior throughout the day. This initial data collection should help to identify the times of the day or specific contexts that most require a self-monitoring intervention.
3. Decide on a self-management strategy that you feel comfortable with. This will require some type of prompt that alerts the student to monitor their behavior and a recording form that the student can use to track progress of each interval.
   1. Most commonly this would include the use of a timer that vibrates or creates a very soft tone when time expires or another method of reminding the student when to mark their monitoring sheet. Depending on the student’s age and the behavior being tracked, determine how frequently the student should engage in the self-monitoring (e.g., every 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes).
   2. You can use the templates provided by the Beacon system to help create the tracking form. The specific items being monitored will vary based on the intervention goal. For example, the student may track the number of math problems they have completed during each interval or simply record whether they were on task at the end of each monitoring interval.
4. Meet with the student to discuss your concerns about the target behavior and to introduce the intervention. Try to have this be a discussion, providing opportunities for the student to ask questions and share their opinions. Review any concerns the student has about the use of the monitoring system.
5. Discuss a reward system with the student if appropriate. For example, the student may wish to earn a reward if they meet a goal.  External reward systems may be particularly useful for reinforcing these skills in younger children. As the student demonstrates improvements, the goals can be made more difficult.
6. Once the student understands the self-monitoring system, you can begin implementation. Early on, you should plan to provide the student with prompts before the specified tracking period and praise their appropriate behavior (e.g., Nice job getting your math work out so quickly. Now would be a good time to start your timer).As the student becomes more familiar with the intervention, you can reduce the prompts and supervision of implementation.
7. Meet with the student each day to review their self-monitoring sheet. This should serve to both check their completion of the self-monitoring record form and to discuss progress and provide reinforcement.
8. Use Beacon progress monitoring tools to evaluate the extent to which this strategy is improving the target behaviors as intended.

Although self-monitoring is often associated with behaviors like work completion and on-task behavior, it can be adapted to address a wide variety of behaviors. The approach to tracking and monitoring may differ depending on the nature of the behavior and its context. For example, some behaviors can be easily counted (e.g., raising a hand to speak) whereas others are internal states (e.g., recognizing feelings of frustration). The flowchart below can be used to help you decide which type of tracking approach might work best for your purposes. It also includes links to examples of each type of monitoring sheet. We encourage you to customize the examples as needed to best fit your unique situation.

• For some students, having a timer in front of them may end up being an added distraction. Discuss expectations for having the timer with the student. If the student appears to be more distracted, use of a timer may not be the best fit. Utilize the progress monitoring tools to evaluate student progress.
• The goal of this intervention is to increase independent monitoring over time. For some students, engaging in this type of self-monitoring will be a big shift because they are used to frequent teacher prompts and reminders. At the start of the intervention, you may need to provide more guidance and prompting to ensure the student is using the self-monitoring system. Over time, these prompts can be faded.
• It is important to provide reinforcement for appropriate behavior. You can praise the student’s use of the self-monitoring system, as well as their target behaviors (e.g., on-task, work completion). For some youth, a full reward system may be necessary. For others, simply meeting and providing verbal reinforcement will be adequate.
• Younger students may benefit from simplified tools, such as smiley faces or thumbs up/down to indicate progress.
• Use visual prompts (e.g., posters, cards) to help younger students or students with attention difficulties remember to monitor their behavior.
• If you need support implementing this intervention, it may be helpful to seek out consultation from your school mental health professional or intervention team leader. For example, a special interventionist may be able to practice with the student in a controlled environment to help them learn the technique in a simpler context.

Self-monitoring is rated as limited at the elementary and secondary levels.

Elementary: Research has demonstrated that self monitoring has promise for improving  on task behavior and classwork accuracy in elementary aged students.

Secondary: Research demonstrates that self-monitoring has promise for improving on task-behavior, out of seat behavior, interruptions, and invasions of personal space.

Recommendations: Self-monitoring may be a useful intervention for elementary students to help with on-task behavior and classwork accuracy. Similarly, this intervention may be useful to target these problems in secondary students as well as out of seat behavior, interruptions, and invasions of personal space. Although there have not been studies conducted to confirm, this intervention may be useful for all of the above presenting problems at both levels as long as the intervention is implemented in an age-appropriate manner.