Developing Quick Writing Skills of Middle School Students With Disabilities

Abstract

Two multiple-baseline, across-participants design studies were used to examine persuasive quick write (10-minute writing responses) performance of seventh-grade students with disabilities. In the first study, 6 students were taught by a graduate research assistant; in the second study, 10 students were taught by their special education teacher. In both studies, students’ written responses were evaluated before, during, and after self-regulated strategy development instruction for the POW + TREE planning strategy (POW: pick my idea, organize my notes, write and say more; TREE: topic sentence, reasons—three or more, explain, ending). All study participants improved in the number of persuasive parts included and the quality of the written response immediately after and weeks following instruction.