UROP Project
Examining effects of a self-monitoring intervention on the on-task behavior of students with ADHD
self-monitoring of attention, on-task behavior,
Research Mentor: Dr. John Romig,
Department, College, Affiliation: School of Teacher Education , Education, Health, and Human Sciences
Contact Email: jr25bi@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor): Ms. Trisha Phillip
Research Assistant Supervisor Email: tbp25a@fsu.edu
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Department, College, Affiliation: School of Teacher Education , Education, Health, and Human Sciences
Contact Email: jr25bi@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor): Ms. Trisha Phillip
Research Assistant Supervisor Email: tbp25a@fsu.edu
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
- Day: Tuesday, September 1
Start Time: 12:00
End Time: 1:00
Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/3535533617
Project Description
The ultimate goal of this project is to teach elementary students with ADHD the skills and strategies they need to remain engaged in classroom instruction. Students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related disabilities can struggle to remain on-task during academic instruction and activities. When students have low levels of on-task behavior they often struggle to retain academic knowledge and skills. This project will examine an intervention (self-monitoring of attention) aimed at increasing students’ on-task behavior. Many interventions designed at improving students’ behavior rely on the teacher implementing certain strategies. When the teacher or strategies change, the student’s behavior can revert to pre-intervention levels. In contrast, self-monitoring of attention teaches students the skills they need to be successfully engaged in instruction without a specific teacher or teaching strategy present. When successfully using self-monitoring of attention, students can generalize improved behavior to a wide-range of contexts and settings. UROP students will explore past research published on this intervention and participate in original research with elementary students in the Tallahassee area to determine whether the intervention was effective at increasing these students’ on-task behavior.Research Tasks: 1. Read articles on self-monitoring of attention and extract specific information (e.g., grade level of participants, dependent measures, research design)
2. Observe video recordings of participating elementary aged students and collect data about their on-task behavior
3. Create graphs visualizing students' on-task behavior
4. Interview classroom teachers about effectiveness of self-monitoring intervention
Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required:
1. Attention to detail - able to use coding manuals and follow definitions and instructions.
2. Fluency with Microsoft Office tools (e.g., OneDrive, Word, Excel)
3. Ability to work collaboratively with professors and graduate research assistants
Mentoring Philosophy
Entering college, I wanted to coach high school soccer. So, like all coaches I knew, I majored in social studies education. In my first semester, I read about students with invisible disabilities. I had never heard of this concept before, but it referred to things like ADHD, dyslexia, and other disabilities that are not visibly apparent when looking at someone. The article described how these students often fall through the cracks of identification processes in schools and remain unidentified without receiving the services they need to be successful. This article really resonated with me and, to make a long story short, I eventually changed my major to special education.In this process, I began to meet with the head of the special education program at my university. He quickly became a mentor to me for the rest of my career, which shapes my mentoring philosophy. He explained special education to me and emphasized the importance of evidence-based practices – the idea that we had to be able to prove if classroom strategies were working or not. I loved this concept and quickly decided I wanted to be involved in developing evidence-based practices.
This experience shaped how I mentor students now. When participating in a research experience, I want the experience to be aligned to the students’ interests and goals. I want open communication where students can ask questions and explore their fields of interest. I want to guide students on their academic journey with specific feedback.