Teaching Students to Monitor and Reflect on Their Own Behavior
Recommendation 6 focuses on teaching students to observe, record, and reflect on their own behavior. This lesson examines how school psychologists can determine when self-monitoring is appropriate, help teams design a usable monitoring system, and support students in becoming increasingly independent.
Teacher-Delivered Behavioral Interventions in Grades K–5
Read Recommendation 6, beginning on page 54Focus on the self-monitoring suitability checklist, the six implementation steps, operationally defining the target behavior, designing the monitoring tool, teaching the student to use it, and planning for maintenance and fading.
Self-Monitoring Is More Than Giving a Student a Checklist
Self-monitoring involves teaching students to observe and record their own behavior. The purpose is not simply to collect data. The larger goal is to help students become more aware of their behavior, reflect on their performance, and develop greater self-regulation.
Before recommending self-monitoring, the team should determine whether the student can already perform the expected behavior and whether the target behavior is observable and practical for the student to monitor.
Six Steps for Self-Monitoring
Determine whether self-monitoring is a good match for the student and the behavior. Make sure the student can perform the expected behavior and feels sufficiently safe and supported in the classroom environment.
Both behaviors should be described in observable language so the student can reliably determine whether the expected behavior occurred.
Decide what the student will record, how often recording will occur, what prompt will signal the monitoring interval, and what form or tool the student will use.
Explain the procedure, model it, provide opportunities to practice, and give feedback until the student can use the system accurately.
Review whether the student is accurately recording behavior and whether the expected behavior is improving over time.
As the behavior becomes more consistent, consider reducing prompts, simplifying the system, or fading formal self-monitoring while continuing to evaluate whether the behavior maintains.
Self-Monitoring Requires a Match Between Student, Behavior, and Tool
Self-monitoring can be appealing because it shifts part of the intervention from continuous adult management toward student independence. But a poor match can turn a self-monitoring form into another adult demand rather than a meaningful self-regulation strategy.
Is Self-Monitoring a Good Fit?
Decide whether self-monitoring is a reasonable starting strategy for each student.
A fourth-grade student knows how to begin independent work but often becomes distracted. The target behavior can be defined as “working on the assigned task when the timer sounds,” and the behavior occurs many times during independent work.
A student is expected to solve multi-step division independently but has not yet learned the procedure and cannot complete the problems accurately even with support.
A student has an intense behavioral incident approximately once every six weeks. The team wants the student to complete a self-monitoring form every ten minutes throughout the school day.
A fifth-grade student can appropriately request help but frequently leaves the assigned area instead. The student understands both behaviors and can reliably identify whether a help request occurred.
Build a Self-Monitoring Plan
Select the strongest components for a student who has difficulty maintaining independent work behavior.
How should the target be defined?
What should trigger recording?
How should the tool begin?
What should happen during early implementation?
“Let's Just Give Him a Self-Monitoring Sheet”
Work through a consultation in which the team wants to use self-monitoring before determining whether the intervention is a good match.
What is the strongest first response?
What would you recommend?
What should the team consider next?
Is Self-Monitoring Working?
Apply the principles from this lesson to evaluate whether a self-monitoring plan is a good fit, whether the student can use it accurately, and what changes may be needed to support independence and maintenance.
Key Takeaways for School Psychologists
- Self-monitoring teaches students to observe and record their own behavior with the goal of increasing self-awareness and self-regulation.
- Before using self-monitoring, determine whether the behavior is clearly observable, whether the student can perform the expected behavior, and whether the behavior occurs frequently enough to monitor.
- Challenging and expected behaviors should be operationally defined before the monitoring tool is created.
- Monitoring systems should be simple enough that data collection does not interfere with the student's participation in instruction.
- Students need explicit instruction and practice in how to use a self-monitoring procedure accurately.
- School psychologists can help teams review both student behavior and the accuracy of self-monitoring data during implementation.
- Formal self-monitoring can be faded as the expected behavior becomes more consistent and independent.