The Effects of Self-Monitoring On-Task Behaviors of Students with Visual Impairments in Reading Activities

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of self-monitoring to increase on-task behaviors of students with visual impairments during silent reading activities. Three students between the ages of seven and eight attended to an Elementary School for Blind Children were participated in the study. Two participants attended first grade and the other student attended second grade. Two students were reading using the Braille alphabet and the other one was reading printed alpabet. This study has been carried out using a multiple baseline design. The study results showed that upon the implementation of the self monitoring intervention, on-task behaviors of all three students were significantly increased. Participating students continued to display high levels of on-task behaviors during the maintenance phase. Additionally, participating teachers stated that the use of self monitoring in their classroom was easy and effective. The results of the study were discussed and suggestions for future research were proposed.