A Review of the Effects of Self-Monitoring on Reading Performance of Students With Disabilities

The purpose of this review was to synthesize the effects of self-monitoring methods on reading achievement for students with disabilities. Studies examining the self-monitoring of reading behaviors that were published in peer-reviewed journals from 1987 to 2008 were synthesized with regard to types of participants, settings, research designs, independent variables, dependent variables, and intervention effects. Effect sizes and percentages of nonoverlapping data were calculated to provide overall estimates of the magnitude of using self-monitoring methods to improve reading performance. Findings suggested that reading performance improved when self-monitoring methods were used. Among the many findings derived from this review, more studies explored the use of self-monitoring on comprehension skills than on other reading skills, and more studies included participants with learning disabilities (followed by students with emotional and behavioral disorders) than students with other types of disabilities. Limitations, directions for future research, and implications for practice are discussed.