Writing and Writing Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities: Review of a Research Program

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.