participants consisted of 4 students who attended two special education schools at the elementary level . all students were diagnosed as having adhd , and their age range was between 9 to 11 years . three of the four students were diagnosed with a combined type of adhd , and one person was diagnosed to have the hyperactive  impulsive type by a child psychiatrist . the researcher directly observed the inattentive behaviors ( such as inattention to teacher and materials , not following through instructions , leaving seat ) of the participants in the classroom . inattentive behaviors of participants ( target behaviors ) were observed during two sessions each week ( each session lasted 30 minutes ) . all target behaviors were recorded using  duration per occurrence  recording procedure , and percentages of the behaviors were calculated . self - monitoring of attention was used as a cognitive - behavioral technique for increasing self - control in the participants . the programs included the following components : 
 self - monitoring cues tape : an audiotape including tones or beeps at irregular intervals . when a student first begins to use self - monitoring , the pre - recorded tones are essential for his / her success ( 5 ) . a self - monitoring card : it includes a self - assessment question ( was i paying attention ? ) and spaces in which participants indicate being off - task or on - task when the tones sound . percentages of inattentive behaviors in experimental phases during self - monitoring , students were engaged to work in classroom assignments or follow their teacher 's instructions ( 5 ) . the desired goal of self - monitoring was to achieve self - control in classroom situation and to work without external cues features ( tape and card ) . thus , during self - monitoring sessions , external cues were phased out , and students were expected to control their off - task behaviors internally . the results indicated that the percentages of off - task or inattentive behaviors in the classroom situation reduced as a result of the self - monitoring program . this decreasing trend from baseline to the intervention phase is displayed for all the four participants . levels of inattentive behaviors in the follow - up are approximately similar to the intervention , and are lower than the baseline phase ( particularly for the first and fourth participants ) . during self - monitoring , students were engaged to work in classroom assignments or follow their teacher 's instructions ( 5 ) . the desired goal of self - monitoring was to achieve self - control in classroom situation and to work without external cues features ( tape and card ) . thus , during self - monitoring sessions , external cues were phased out , and students were expected to control their off - task behaviors internally . the results indicated that the percentages of off - task or inattentive behaviors in the classroom situation reduced as a result of the self - monitoring program . this decreasing trend from baseline to the intervention phase is displayed for all the four participants . levels of inattentive behaviors in the follow - up are approximately similar to the intervention , and are lower than the baseline phase ( particularly for the first and fourth participants ) . direct observation of inattentive behaviors in a school- based special education situation showed that the behaviors reduced in the intervention phase of a single - subject experimental design . however , maintaining the treatment effects was difficult for the participants . based on the results of this study , two important points should be considered : firstly , increased effectiveness of self - monitoring technique was only observed in the context of the intervention phases and not in the follow - up phases . in other words , secondly , individual differences are important in accepting treatment . from a practical perspective , the findings of this study indicate that self - monitoring techniques can be applied for students with adhd in school - based special education settings . with respect to the short - term effectiveness of self - monitoring technique , continued treatment for adhd is needed so that parents and teachers could understand the outcomes of each approach . lastly , it should also be noted that parent management training ( 6 , 7 ) is an important factor to be considered in cbt techniques .