Eight eighth-grade students identified as having emotional and/or behavioral disabilities participated in a multiple-baseline design study to assess the effects of teaching persuasive writing and applying writing in the civics content area. After baseline data were collected, two intervention phases were implemented. An instructional phase on teaching self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) with the mnemonic “POW-TREE” was implemented, followed by postintervention testing, then a second intervention phase using civics content was implemented, followed by posttesting. Following a 4-week delay, maintenance and generalization probes were administered. Students were also assessed on their strategy knowledge, social validity, and time spent on planning and writing. Findings revealed that all students improved substantially on all essay measures, including essay length, essay quality, and number of essay parts, sentences, and paragraphs. Strategy data revealed that all students learned the strategy, enjoyed using it, and reported understanding the benefits of continued strategy use. Findings are discussed with respect to educational implications and future research.
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