Using the PLEASE Strategy With a Struggling Middle School Writer With a Disability

A critical focus of effective writing interventions is to help students develop a more sophisticated approach to composing, one that is similar in design to those used by skilled writers. After studying the skills and approaches used by effective writers, Harris and Graham designed the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) approach as an intervention to enhance composition skills. This approach has been used effectively with students with and without learning disabilities who are experiencing writing difficulties, irrespective of whether their writing problems were based in the lower level or higher level aspects of writing. Characteristics of SRSD instruction include: (1) explicit teaching; (2) interactive learning; (3) individualized instruction; and (4) criterion-based assessment viewed as an ongoing process in which new strategies are introduced as older ones are revised and retooled for new and current learning situations. This article illustrates the effectiveness of the PLEASE Strategy, an intervention which was developed based on the SRSD approach to address the unique writing difficulties experienced by an 11-year-old student with a chronic illness. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.)