Strategy instruction in planning: Teaching students with learning and writing disabilities to compose persuasive and expository essays

This article summarizes two intervention studies using the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model of instruction, The major objective of the studies was to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching students with learning and writing disabilities an approach to planning persuasive essays before and during composing, An in-progress investigation will also be described, in which the planning strategy has been modified to accommodate a change in genre from persuasive to expository writing, Instructional effects have been investigated using different research designs (multiple-baseline-across-subjects with multiple probes in baseline and between-group comparisons); in different settings (individual instruction, small groups in resource rooms, and general education classrooms); and with different types of students (fifth through eighth graders, including students with and without learning disabilities). Instructional procedures and methodology from these studies are summarized, and the central findings from the first two investigations are presented. Suggestions for future interventions that focus on planning strategies are proposed.