Twenty-nine seventh- and eighth-grade (21 males and 8 females) and 10 fourth- and fifth-grade (7 males and 3 females) students with learning disabilities, as well as 18 seventh- and eighth-grade (14 males and 4 females) and 11 fourth- and fifth-grade (7 males and 4 females) normally achieving students, were administered an interview designed to assess their knowledge of writing and the composing process, attitude toward writing, and self-efficacy as a writer. Students with learning disabilities were found to have less mature conceptualizations of writing than their normally achieving counterparts. Furthermore, while students with learning disabilities were generally positive about writing, they viewed it less favorably than their regular classmates. Finally, there were no differences between the two groups of students in their evaluations of their competence in either writing or carrying out the processes underlying effective composing.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Sage Publications, Inc. and Hammill Institute on Disabilities are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Learning Disability Quarterly.Abstract. This article reviews our research program in written language, including examinations of what and how students with LD write. The evidence indicates that these students' writing difficulties stem, in part, from problems with basic text production skills, scant knowledge about writing, and difficulties with planning and revising text. In other studies, we have evaluated the effectiveness of instructional procedures for addressing one or more of these difficulties, including strategy instruction, procedural facilitation, word processing, basic skills instruction, and the process approach to writing. Our research in each of these areas is reviewed and recommendations for future research are provided.During the last decade, both the public and the educational communities have expressed concern about the quality of writing instruction in our schools. The news media periodically have become involved in the issue, often suggesting that writing instruction and students' performance have declined (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1986). This widespread concern about the quality of writing instruction has coincided with three important actions (Graham & Harris, 1988a, 1988b. First, more time has been allocated to writing instruction and the amount of writing assigned to students has reportedly increased. Second, many states now require that students be able to demonstrate that they can write in a clear and logical manner before they receive a high school diploma. Third, research involving the study of writing has increased dramatically.What implications do these actions have for the field of learning disabilities? The first two require that effective instructional practices be identified and implemented in order to help students with learning disabilities (LD) deal successfully with increased content-area writing demands and minimal-competency testing requirements. The third action has increased the likelihood that these demands can be adequately addressed because our knowledge about what writing involves, how students write, and ways of helping students progress as writers has been greatly refined and extended.The purpose of this invited paper is to present a line of research that we have carried out over

This study examined the effects of a revising goal to “add information” on the revising behavior and writing performance of 5th- and 6th-grade students with writing and learning problems. The authors also examined whether procedural assistance in meeting the goal to add information would enhance students' performance. In comparison to students assigned a general revising goal to make their paper better, students assigned a goal to add information made more meaning-based changes, particularly additions, when revising their papers. Most importantly, the goal to add information resulted in greater improvement in text quality than the general revising goal. Use of the procedural facilitator to accomplish the goal to add information, however, did not appreciably enhance students' revising behavior or the quality of their text.

This study was conducted to determine if a planning and writing strategy would improve the essay writing of students with learning disabilities. Four participants were taught a strategy designed to facilitate the setting of product and process goals, generation and organization of notes, continued planning during writing, and evaluation of goal attainment. Training effects were investigated using a multiple probe design across subjects. Strategy instruction had a positive effect on students' essay writing performance and knowledge of the writing process, and effects were maintained over time.