The effects of self-monitoring on on-task behaviours of students with visual impairments in reading activities

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of self-monitoring on increasing on-task behaviors of students with visual impairments in silent reading activities. Three children attended to an Elementary School for Blind Children between the ages of seven and eight were participated in the study. Two participants attended to a first grade classroom and remaining student attended to a second grade classroom. Two students were reading using the Braille alphabet and the other one was reading without using the Braille. This study has been carried out using a multiple baseline design. The study results showed that on-task behaviors of all three students were significantly increased as a result of the self-monitoring technique. Participating students continued to display high levels of on-task behavior during the maintenance phase. Participating classroom 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.Key Words: Visual Disability, Visually Impaired, Self Monitoring, On-Task Behavior, Silent Reading.