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Self-recording as a cognitive behavior modification strategy or as a self management tool has proven effective in many settings. The teaching of self-recording techniques to school-aged children with learning disabilities has often served to change their behavior. Self-recording procedures have been utilized in a variety of school settings. In particular, self-recording of attention-to-task behaviors has had beneficial effects on attention. Similarly, students may be taught to record their academic activity and this has proven useful in bolstering academic performance.
In many self-recording procedures, a student marks a sheet noting whether a specified behavior is absent or present. The design of the form in which to keep track of the behavior may be negotiated with the student. A student may be more highly motivated by a recording sheet that he or she helped design. The student may have an external prompt (e.g. a pre-recorded tape, interval watch, or a kitchen timer) or an internal prompt (asking oneself whether a specified behavior is absent or present). At the prompt, the student would ask the specific question and make a mark on the recording sheet. A student may mark (+) or (-) some other mark or graphic that represents the presence or absence of the specified behavior.
For example, a student with a learning disability in a classroom in Virginia seems "scattered" to her teacher. The teacher indicates that "scattered" usually means that the student has trouble staying on task as well as keeping up with her school belongings during class time. The student and teacher talk about self-recording and the student proposes that she ask herself, "Am I on top of things?" when she hears a beep on an interval watch. The student records a "y" for Yes or an "o" for No to note her behavior. Though this is a hypothetical situation, one would hope that the student's increased awareness of her behavior would have a positive impact on not only her "scatteredness" but also on her academic performance. Some self-recording studies suggest that this could be the case. However, the changes that occur when students use self-recording may not be the result of increased "awareness" of one's own behavior-- the technique may work because it increases the salience of environmental contingencies.
For a case study click here.
For answers to frequently asked questions about self-recording click here.