Self-Monitoring

Self-Monitoring

Self-Monitoring is the practice of observing and recording one’s own actions and behavior. In general, it is designed to teach students to change or maintain their own behavior (Shapiro and Cole, 1994). Using a checklist to ensure the completion of all the steps of a process, or crossing items off a “to-do” list to guarantee needed tasks have been finished are examples of Self-Monitoring. The practice of Self-Monitoring falls under the broader category of self-management. Self-management also includes goal setting (creating a behavior target), self-instruction (the use of self-talk or statements to direct behavior), self-evaluation (assessing target behavior against a set standard), and strategy instruction (following a series of steps to complete a task autonomously). In order for Self-Monitoring to occur, two conditions must be present:

1. The participant must have the skill in their repertoire.
2. The participant must be able to discriminate the occurrence of the skill.

The purpose of Self-Monitoring is to increase the frequency of a desired behavior/skill, or to ensure the accurate completion of a task. The act of monitoring a behavior forces the participant to increase focus and awareness of the desired outcome. This awareness, has been shown to increase the occurrence of desired results. Self-Monitoring may be applied to a wide range of skills, and has been found to be effective with student participants of all ages.

Resources Needed

Intervention Coordinator

As with any intervention, it is recommended to have a Coordinator to supervise the fidelity of implementation. The Coordinator would also organize materials, and help orient the student to the intervention. The Coordinator will notify parents of the student’s involvement with the intervention, and support teachers in their implementation of the intervention. The Coordinator communicates with the Tier 2 Team regarding how many students are involved in the intervention, and what progress is being made. He or she may also be the data person – the one to enter individual student progress in the Advanced Tier Spreadsheet.

Teachers

Teacher who have students in the intervention are expected to help train the student in completion of the DPR by checking each time the student marks their chart for the first week, or until the student is accurate in assessing their target skill at least 80% of the time. The teacher checks are then faded until random checks (around 1/5) occur. The teacher will then turn the chart in to the Coordinator or data person for data entry at least weekly. Students should have the opportunity to view their data on a regular basis so they can easily see their progress. The student can be engaged in entering their daily progress onto a graph so they can view overall progress in the intervention.

Students Most Likely To Benefit

Self-Monitoring is best used with students who have escape maintained function of behavior, meaning their problem behavior is related to avoiding attention, task, or stimuli. Self-Monitoring could be considered to match other functions if reinforcement for attaining goal is manipulated. Research tells us Self-Monitoring can be effective for a wide range of ages, disabilities, and skills.

Intervention Overview

Self-Monitoring may be used as an individual support, or with a group of students. It may be applied to a variety of behaviors or academic skills. However the practice is used, the implementation steps remain consistent.

1. Identify target behavior
2. Define the target behavior
3. Collect baseline data
4. Design procedure and materials
5. Teach student to self-monitor
6. Monitor progress
7. Follow up and fade

Steps for Effective Implementation

1. Identify a Coordinator and train them in the parameters of the intervention.
2. Identify eligible students by using data decision rules (ODR, minor discipline data, or teacher nomination). Gather enough additional information (Tier 2 Adapted FACTS) to determine possible function of behavior and appropriateness for this intervention.
3. Notify parents of student participation.
4. Follow the seven steps for implementing with students.

Understanding the Implementation Components

Identify Target Behavior: Typically, a student will be identified for support because they are exhibiting a problem behavior. The team will determine a target replacement behavior for the student to perform instead. The target behavior should be connected to the schoolwide expected behaviors for all students.

Define the Target Behavior: The replacement behavior should be defined so it is observable and measureable—meaning it may be recognized and recorded when it is performed. The parameters of the expected performance of the behavior should be clearly communicated, with examples and nonexamples discussed so there is no confusion as to when to count the behavior as accomplished. If there are steps associated with the behavior or skill, these should be listed and practiced.

Examples of Defined Behaviors:

• Respect others = Use good words, keep hands and feet to self, and ask to use other people’s belongings.
• Be responsible = Go to class on time, bring needed items, and put your things away when done.
• Follow directions = Listen to what you are being asked to do, ask questions if needed, begin the task.

Examples of Academic skills:

• Recite/write times tables 1 – 10 by Jan. 15th.
• Read 5 books a week at the 3.0 level or above, and complete comprehension questions at 80% or above.

Collect Baseline Data: Baseline data is collected so it may be compared to performance of the target behavior after the intervention has been implemented. This allows improvement in the target skill to be seen. It is desirable to graph the baseline data, and then insert a vertical line, or phase change line, indicating when the intervention has started. Graphing daily progress allows a quick visual determination if the behavior is improving compared to baseline. Graphing progress is considered best practice.

Design Procedure and Materials: Developing intervention procedures and materials that are specific to your building and meet the needs of your students is the next step. The intervention procedures include when and where the student will be self-monitoring. Will the student only self-monitor during the most problematic times of the day or will the entire day be included? How will the student be prompted or reminded to record their use of the skill? Behaviors such as staying on task need frequent monitoring, so a cueing system should be created for skills needing frequent monitoring. A variety of timing devices are available, from simple timers to incorporating student’s personal technology. A small device called a “Motivator” is an example of a useful tool. It is small enough to clip onto the belt, and will vibrate at set intervals. Other behaviors may only need to be recorded at the end of a class period such as the use of social skills or the number of tasks completed.

Materials for implementing the intervention include the method to remind the student to monitor as discussed above, the chart for Self-Monitoring (the Daily Progress Report or DPR), and the reward for attaining goal. The DPR should specifically list the target behavior, with any steps associated, space for the student to record performance of the skill, a place to record the day’s total, and the student’s goal for the day. A code or number should be agreed upon to indicate if the skill was performed accurately. If the skill is either accomplished or not (such as being on task), only two symbols are needed to indicate yes or no. Other skills may have more variance so a three-point scale may be needed (i.e. 0 indicates the skill was not done, 1 indicates the skill was attempted but not all steps completed, and a 2 indicates the skill was accomplished to criteria). The number of possible time frames multiplied by the number points possible in each determines the possible total points for the day. Points earned out of points possible can then be converted to a percentage and graphed.

A reasonable goal should be set daily. The goal should be challenging, yet attainable for the student. Determining a goal is easiest when baseline data is available. The goal should be increased as the student consistently attains goal until a final goal is set at 80-85%. Reinforcement for attaining goal should tie into the universal school recognition program, and match the function of the student’s behavior.

Teach Students to Self-Monitor: Students must be taught how to self-monitor. Reviewing and recognizing the target behavior is essential (remember the skill must be one they already know how to perform). Situations in which the student will be expected to perform the behavior may be role played with the student, with guidance provided in completing the DPR. Non-examples should be discussed as well, and the student should demonstrate completing the DPR under each circumstance. Progress toward accurately completing the DPR should be monitored each time until the student is accurate at least 80% of the time for a week. At this stage accuracy is the focus, so praise should be given for accurate completion and any discrepancy in recording should be discussed. The adult checks are then faded until the student is independently completing the chart with adult checks on a 1/5 average. If accuracy begins to slip, the adult should increase the frequency of checks. The adult interaction and involvement as well as tangible reinforcement of the target behavior should be faded. For many students, seeing progress and completing the chart is reinforcement enough.

Monitor Progress: Determining how well the student is responding to the intervention is a crucial step in the process. Each student’s DPR score should be converted to a percentage and charted on a graph. Basic graphing conventions should be followed; goal line indicated, vertical line between baseline and intervention data applied to indicate when the intervention began or when a change was made in the intervention, daily or weekly progress designated. The Advanced Tier Spreadsheet is available for this purpose on the pbismissouri.org site. These data should then be used to make decisions to; a) continue the intervention as designed, b) make changes to the intervention based on questionable or poor performance or c) begin the fading process and graduate.

Follow Up and Fade: Once the student has successfully met his or her goals for a period of time and have reached the Tier 2 Team’s criteria for fading, they may be faded from the intervention. Students who begin the fading and graduating process should still be monitored intermittently to make sure the student maintains performance of the target behavior. Students may be encouraged to continue the Self-Monitoring process without adult involvement.

Resource: Self-Monitoring Intervention Features and Goals

Training for Staff, Students, and Families

It is beneficial to train all staff regarding their involvement in the intervention so they will be prepared when one of their students is selected. After piloting the intervention and deciding to fully implement, it is much quicker to begin the intervention if each staff member does not need individual training prior to each student starting. If all staff has a clear understanding of the basic structure and use of Self-Monitoring, an email would suffice in reminding them of their role in the intervention along with information about the method to cue the student to complete their chart and the schedule. Staff training should consist of practicing how to monitor students as they complete their chart and appropriate ways to give praise for accuracy, praise for skill attainment, as well as corrective feedback if student is not accurate in their self-assessment. Staff should understand the importance of frequent checks and feedback as the student begins the intervention, and how to slowly fade to intermittent checks (on an average of 1/5).

Students must be oriented to the intervention and clearly taught how to carry out their responsibilities. Initial training will take about 30 minutes in order to review the target skill and have the student practice with a sufficient amount of examples that they understand how and when to complete the DPR. Examples and non-examples of accurate recording and variations of the skill should be included.

Families also will benefit from knowing skills that will be taught, how the DPR is used to monitor student performance, and how often they will receive data about their child’s progress in the group.

Variations in Self-Monitoring Use

Self-Monitoring as a CICO Variation

This is most appropriate for students who seek adult attention. The students are reinforced by the frequent teacher feedback, and teacher rating on the DPR. However, some students find teacher attention aversive. For those students, Self-Monitoring may be effective, particularly when reinforcement for attaining goal is matched to their function of behavior.

The steps for implementation would be the same. Simply use the same CICO monitoring form used for other students participating in CICO, but teach students to self-monitor.

Self-Monitoring as a Generalization Strategy for Social Skills Intervention Groups

Generalization of social skills is viewed by leading researchers, such as Gresham (1998, author of Social Skills Improvement System - SSIS), as a need area associated with that intervention. Students are capable of demonstrating the target social skills within the controlled training situation, but fail to demonstrate those same skills in other environments.

To add Self-Monitoring to the SSIG intervention, simply create the chart or use the same daily chart teachers are using to rate the student on the social skills being taught. Teach students how to self-monitor following the same steps as outlined.

Self-Monitoring as a Fading Procedure

Self-Monitoring has been discussed as a fading procedure for other interventions presented in this workbook. It is a good transition from teacher led intervention to student autonomy. Students are slowly transitioned from having the teacher complete a chart or progress report (DPR) to completing it independently. Periodic teacher checks at random intervals ensures the student is accurately recording performance, and maintaining the target skills.

Using Self-Monitoring as a Classroom Support for All Students

This intervention may easily be adapted to use with all students in the classroom to either work on one agreed upon skill, or for each student to work on an individual skill.

If each student is monitoring an individual skill, a teaching session should be conducted to discuss how to choose an appropriate skill to improve and how to set appropriate goals. (Or the teacher discusses with each student a skill of focus based on baseline data such as spelling test scores, minor discipline data, etc.) The teacher would then lead students in defining the skill, determining the frequency of charting, designing their individual DPR, and setting a goal. Students could be paired with a buddy to help check accuracy of DPR completion with the teacher randomly double checking. This can be highly effective as a tool for improving individual academic progress.

Self-Monitoring is a great way to motivate students to improve on a collective skill. This skill may be determined through class meetings or by the teacher.

On-Going Monitoring of the Intervention

Once an intervention is developed and fully implemented, several aspects will need to be monitored, including:

• Monitoring Fidelity of Intervention Implementation
• Monitoring Social Validity of Intervention
• Monitoring Intervention Outcomes

Fidelity of Implementation

Fidelity of implementation refers to how well an intervention is applied in the way that it was designed. Fidelity checks for any intervention should be designed and conducted as part of the Tier 2 Team’s regular routine. Two common methods for assessing fidelity include permanent product review and observation or interviews.

Permanent product review means looking at documentation to determine implementation. The easiest way to check fidelity of implementation is to look at the DPR. Is it completed using the designated time intervals? Has the teacher observed the student completing the chart and have they periodically checked accuracy?

Teachers or another adult may need to observe the student Self-Monitoring to determine if they are following the schedule.

It may be necessary to interview the teacher and/or student to determine any problems associated with implementation.

Social Validity

Social validity is also referred to as treatment acceptability. It focuses on whether the goals, the intervention elements, and the anticipated outcomes are acceptable, socially relevant, and useful to the individual and to those who care about the individual.

Typically, social validity is measured through the use of structured interviews or rating scale questionnaires. Rating forms created to measure other interventions may be appropriate. Questions for the interview or completed as a questionnaire center on how clear and easy the intervention was to implement and if the results were worth the effort or made the intended improvements in behavior.

Monitoring Intervention Outcomes

All school interventions should be periodically evaluated to determine the value added to students’ school success. One possible format is to count the number of students who participated in each intervention and then those who had positive outcomes or graduated from the intervention.

Resource: Sample of Elementary Daily Progress Reports

Resource: Sample of Secondary Daily Progress Report

Resource: Sample Writing Assignment Checklist

Fading and Graduation

After completing the formal social skills intervention lessons and successful demonstration of self-management procedures, the Tier 2 Team should organize a graduation ceremony or provide an opportunity to celebrate success. Many schools choose to plan a formal ceremony and invite parents of participating students to attend. Often graduation or celebration ceremonies coincide with natural endpoints (i.e., end of first semester and end of school year). Celebration ceremonies are not exclusive for Social Skills Intervention Group participants. Rather, school teams are encouraged to consider how recognition for students who participated can naturally and meaningfully be incorporated into existing celebrations. Many schools provide recognition for outstanding academic performance but may neglect to consider behavioral performance in the same regard. Thus, students who participate in any Tier 2 or 3 interventions need to be recognized and celebrated in the same way educators and families acknowledge academic achievement and accomplishments.