Improving learning disabled students' skills at composing essays: self-instructional strategy training

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Special Education

Background:

• Learning disabilities often impact writing proficiency, necessitating effective instructional strategies.
• Self-instructional strategies can empower students to manage their learning processes.

Observation:

• Students with learning disabilities received training in a strategy for argumentative essay generation, framing, and planning.
• A multiple-baseline across-subjects design was employed to assess the strategy's impact.

Findings:

• The self-instructional strategy training led to significant improvements in students' essay writing performance.
• Students demonstrated enhanced self-efficacy regarding their writing abilities.
• The positive effects persisted over time and generalized to a new teacher and setting.
• Generalization to a different writing genre, story writing, was also observed.

Implications:

• This strategy offers a viable intervention for enhancing the writing skills of students with learning disabilities.
• The findings suggest the strategy's potential for broader application in special education settings.
• The positive student and teacher feedback supports its practical utility and recommendation for wider use.