Evaluating Effective Writing Instruction for Adolescent Students in an Emotional and Behavior Support Setting

A multiprobe multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of strategy instruction in persuasive quick writing with 5 seventh- and eighth-grade students who attended a county alternative placement school for students with severe emotional and behavioral disabilities. Students were taught to plan and write a 10-minute persuasive response using the Self-Regulated Strategy Development instructional model. Instruction was conducted over five 30-minute sessions plus three 10-minute sessions. Positive effects were noted for all students on the primary measure, quality of written responses. The effect of the intervention was maintained over time. All students reported that the instruction benefited performance.