Self Monitoring with the Self and Match System
I recently completed an interview for my podcast with Jamie Salter and Dr. Katie Croce, the two developers of the system of self monitoring called Self & Match. Today I want to share with you part of that discussion in the hopes of getting you to think about the importance of teaching children how and why they should focus on monitoring their own behavior. Not just leaving the behavior correction and assessment up to the adults.
What is Self and Match?
Even though self and match research is only recently being shared, it’s not new. “Our mentors have been researching self monitoring since the 70s,” Jamie told me. “They have been publishing articles on self monitoring since before we were born. But what they hadn’t done is that they hadn’t brought it into everyone’s toolbox. How do we bring these more into the mainstream?”
I’ve been in the behavior management space for 20 plus years and there wasn’t a lot of discussion about self management or self monitoring of any kind back then. In fact, I can’t remember anyone talking about it until I came to the self and match workshop.
“I think that a lot of times when we would go to conferences, we would look through those little books and see all the different topics and, and self monitoring wasn’t one you were seeing come up very often. Now you’re starting to see more and more. One of our main goals – whether it’s self and match or other self monitoring tools – is that it should be in everyone’s toolbox. And so the question is, how do we get that into the research more? How do we get that into the practical world more so that people are seeing this as a tool to add to their toolbox?”
“On a global level, Self & Match is an evidence based self monitoring system that’s used in schools, homes, clinics, group homes, camps, colleges, and universities. It is a tool to systematically teach individuals how to self reflect on their own behavior. Many tools out there are telling kids how they do, telling clients how they do. But self and match is a way that we are teaching students or clients how to individually self-reflect, and then they’re also getting check-ins with staff.”
Self and Match Program
Katie gave me a general overview of how the Self & Match system works. “You are first going to have the student identify if they’ve engaged in a behavior or not. They can do that by circling yes’s and no’s or smiles and frowns or thumbs up and thumbs down. That’s very individualized for each learner. And then we have the staff come in, or the parents or the clinicians that are supporting the student. Then they also evaluate, does the student do this? They respond with their yes’s and no’s or smiles or rounds or thumbs up and thumbs down.
“And then once the student and staff have done their responses individually, then we look at comparing the answers. We’re looking for yes matches and we’re looking for no matches. This is what really sets the system apart from other self monitoring interventions that are out there. When the student says yes, I did what I was expected to do and the staff says you’re right, you did do what was expected of you, they get at least two points. They get one point for that honest self reflection, and they get one point for doing the expected behavior. That’s a yes match.
“Then if the student says no, I didn’t do what I was supposed to do and the staff says you’re right, I agree with you, you didn’t do what you were supposed to do, that’s a no match. But they still get one point for that honest self reflection. And so what we really want to do is to teach students that no is okay. No is an opportunity to learn. It’s taking advantage of that growth mindset. We all make mistakes, it’s okay to make mistakes. We’re glad that you were honest about that mistake. What can we do differently next time so that we can improve upon that?
“So even when students have a moment where they didn’t do exactly what was expected and the staff says, you’re right, you didn’t, the staff can still say, but I’m so proud of you for being honest and self reflecting. We can still give them that praise for that honest self reflection and use it as a teachable moment.
“And then we add up their points. Some of the students get access to reinforcement immediately, some of them get it on a delayed schedule. We have some students that have it on a very, very delayed schedule. Even once a week or once a month. At the end of the day, the student responds, the teacher responds, we compare answers, we see how many points they earn. And then at some point in time, they get access to reinforcement.”
The Importance of Self Monitoring
“There’s sometimes a misconception of when you can use self monitoring,” Katie said. “It doesn’t have to just be for reducing challenging behavior. So it can be for increasing academic skills, or social skills, executive functioning skills, independent living skills. You name it, you basically can self monitor. We used to joke that the only time that you couldn’t self monitor was when you were sleeping. But now with technology such as the Fitbit and Apple Watches, you can even self monitor your heart rate and your REM sleep during the course of the night. So it’s really possible to self monitor lots of different behaviors, not just those that you want to reduce.”
It’s important to reinforce the process so that kids want to monitor themselves on their own. That becomes part of their life structure. How am I doing in life? Am I meeting my goals? Am I achieving the things I want to do? Did I have a good day? And what do I want to do to fix that going forward? We’re so focused on these individual skills that this ability to monitor yourself is huge.
“Something that is so key is that most of us have learned the skill of self monitoring,” Jamie said. “We do self monitoring across our day. I set an alarm to show up today on time. That was self monitoring. Do I step on the scale every morning? Do I balance my bank account? All of these are ways that we self monitor our behavior to make sure we’re paying our bills, that we’re showing up at meetings, that we’re responding to things that are on our to-do list. But many of the individuals we work with have not yet acquired the skill of how to self monitor.
“My life passion right now is teaching self monitoring,” Jamie told me. “Whether you use self and match or not, I just want you to bring this into your classroom, your homes, your clinics, to think about how you’re systematically going to teach a child to self monitor their behavior, because I think that’s a life skill that will go with them for the rest of their life.”
