Neo Yee Lin Group A

(i) the intervention

Case Study 1 – Annie

Area of intervention:
Social Behaviour - To encourage Annie to engage in activities with her classmates

Intervention: Self-Monitoring

Description:

According to Maag, Rankin and Reid (1995), “Self-monitoring encourages students to be conscious of their own specific behaviors, observe whether they occur, keep track of the occurrences of the behaviors, and reward themselves for improvements; this enables and encourages them to change those behaviors” (as cited in Ganz, 2008).

There are seven steps recommended for implementing self-monitoring in the classroom.

Step 1: First, the teacher chooses a target behavior that she wants to help the student to improve on. She may ask the student to participate in choosing the target behaviour, depending on her cognitive and language abilities. The target behaviour may be an academic behavior, a social behavior or attention to task. It should be recorded and defined clearly and measurably so that both teacher and student understand the behavior that they are looking for (Ganz, 2008).

Step 2: The teacher shares with the student about the benefits of self-monitoring in which other students have experienced and the reinforcement they received due to improved behaviour. The student should be given the opportunity to decide what items he or she wants to earn, as long as they are intangible (e.g. 20 minutes of play time), to increase motivation to improve the target behaviour. The reward list may have a variety of items (for the student to choose when target behaviour is achieved) or a single item (Ganz, 2008).

Step 3: The teacher decides how to measure and record the student’s performance on the target behavior before implementing self-monitoring (Ganz, 2008).

Step 4: The teacher chooses a self-monitoring method that is appropriate to the student’s age and ability level. For instance, higher functioning students can use paper-based systems (e.g., coloring boxes on a graph), and younger students can have hands-on systems (e.g., stacking blocks, tokens). The teacher also needs to determine the first criterion for earning reinforcement and ensures that the student receives frequent reinforcement to guarantee success. The criteria should increase accordingly to the student’s progress of the target behaviour (Ganz, 2008).

Step 5: The teacher teaches the student to self-monitor by role playing and modeling the appropriate and inappropriate examples of the chosen behavior till the student can differentiate them. While role-playing the different examples of the behavior, the teacher also practices the self-monitoring system with the student until he or she can do it independently (Ganz, 2008).

Step 6: The teacher and the student start self-monitoring after the student can identify the target behaviour. Initially the teacher monitors the student’s behavior daily to ensure the student has an accurate record. If many errors are made, the teacher should return to Step 5. Occasionally, the criteria for earning reinforcement may be increased (Ganz, 2008).

Step 7: When the teacher concludes that the student is capable of monitoring behavior, the teacher begins to allow the student to self-monitor and check on him or her only periodically. A new behaviour may be introduced after one has been improved (Ganz, 2008).

(ii) its effectiveness

According to Ganz (2008), self-monitoring has been proven to be effective with individuals of all ages and abilities. It has been implemented successfully with individuals with a variety of disabilities, including autism, cognitive impairments, learning disabilities, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; and individuals without disabilities to improve academic and productivity (Rock, 2005; Shimabukuro, Prater, Jenkins, & Edelen-Smith, 1999; Tabor, Seltzer, Heflin, & Alberto, 1999 as cited in Ganz, 2008).
Self-monitoring is effective in addressing academic and social behaviors and can easily be implemented effectively in classrooms (Maag, 2004 as cited in Ganz, 2008). Self monitoring has also been used successfully in general and special education classrooms (Hughes & Boyle, 1991; Hughes et al., 2002 as cited in Ganz, 2008). Based on several studies, the participants often show improvement in the targeted behaviurs even though they did not accurately self-monitor their behaviours (Ganz & Sigafoos; Hughes et al.; Reinecke, Newman, & Meinberg, 1999 as cited in Ganz, 2008).

Self-monitoring has been implemented successfully with preschoolers (Reinecke et al., 1999; Strain, Kohler, Storey, & Danko, 1994 as cited in Ganz, 2008) with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Teaching children with ASD to self-monitor has “led to improvements in (a) on-task behavior (Coyle & Cole, 2004; Ganz & Sigafoos, 2005), (b) socially appropriate comments (Dipipi et al.), (c) responses to others (Koegel, Koegel, Hurley, & Frea, 1992; Strain, Kohler, Storey, & Danko), (d) completion of self-help tasks (Pierce & Schreibman, 1994), (e) sharing toys (Reinecke, Newman, & Meinberg), and (f) social initiations (Strain et al.)” (as cited in Ganz, 2008). In addition, self-monitoring has also resulted in decrease disruptive behaviours in individuals with ASD (Koegel et al. as cited in Ganz, 2008).

Individuals with cognitive impairments who practice self-monitoring have also shown improvement in time on task (Hughes & Boyle, 1991; O’Reilly et al., 2002) and social interactions (Hughes et al., 2002 as cited in Ganz, 2008).

Based on this article, we can see that there were many successful results which ensure the effectiveness of this intervention. Therefore, I feel that self-monitoring could be introduced to Annie so as to help her improve on her social behaviour.

(iii) your personal evaluation how the child will benefit from this intervention

Self-monitoring allows Annie to be aware of her own behaviours. It requires her to keep track of her behaviours and rewards herself when there is improvement shown. This process teaches Annie to self-manage. Based on the record, Annie will know that she needs to change her behaviour when she has few occurrence of herself engaging in activities with her classmates. Gradually, Annie will be able to develop social skills required in social setting. Social skills are critical in helping children to communicate and thus express their thoughts and ideas to others.

Annie’s communication skills will also improve as she has more opportunities to practice communicating with the teacher and her peers through the intervention. It is important to provide opportunities for children so that they can practice applying skills and knowledge.

Intangible rewards will be used to encourage Annie to work towards achieving the target behaviour. Also, Annie will be given the opportunity to participate in choosing the items she wants to earn. Children need opportunities to have the freedom to make decisions in order to develop decision-making skills as well as to boost their self-esteem.

Through self-monitoring, Annie will learn to be more independent when she is able to monitor her own behaviours. In addition, when she becomes independent and achieves the targeted behaviour, her self-esteem will be increased. It is essential for Annie, a child with disability, to be confident as there are many obstacles ahead of her that are to be overcome.

(iv) your suggestions how you can make adjustments to cater to the needs of the child and to facilitate integration of the child / the intervention activity into your classroom.

Self-monitoring has been proven to be successful with individuals of all ages and abilities as it is a very flexible method that can be adapted to cater to different individuals’ needs. The recommended steps have clearly described what a teacher could do to implement self-monitoring intervention with students.

However, there are two adjustments which I would like to make. Firstly, when introducing self-monitoring method to Annie, I would include pictures and words to describe the procedure and the target behaviour that I want to help Annie improve on. It is important for Annie to understand the behaviour in order to learn to self-monitor. As Annie has speech impairment and communication difficulties, I feel that pictures will help convey message clearer to her. In addition, when Annie understands the self-monitoring system, it might encourage her to participate actively in this intervention.

Secondly, due to Annie’s age and language abilities, I would use three dimensional stackable connecting cubes to show Annie how to keep track of the number of times she engages in play with her classmates. At the end of each week, I would guide Annie to count the number of cubes she has and record in a table of the number of times she engages in play with her classmates. Gradually, I will reduce my help when Annie is capable of self-monitoring and recording.

On the whole, I feel that this intervention needs to be practiced consistently in order to ensure that it is effective. In addition, self-monitoring is an essential skill which helps individuals to become independent and disciplined.


Reference

Ganz, J. B. (2008). Self-monitoring across age and ability levels: Teaching students to implement their own positive behavioral interventions. Preventing School Failure, 53(1), 39-48. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.


Done by:
Neo Yee Lin
Group A