Carlos J. Panahon, Ph.D. Alexandra Hilt-Panahon, Ph.D. Minnesota State University, Mankato

1. Writing Interventions: Implementing evidence-based practice for students with EBD in applied settings Carlos J. Panahon, Ph.D. Alexandra Hilt-Panahon, Ph.D. Minnesota State University, Mankato Lauren Arbolino, Ph.D Nationwide Children’s Hospital

2. Introduction • Writing is considered an essential skill for children’s success. • Writing has been identified as a neglected skill (National Commission on Writing, 2003). • The writing skills of children in the United States has been summarized as • “. . . not what it should be” (p. 7)

3. The Nation’s Report Card (2002) – Writing 3

4. The Nation’s Report Card (2002) – Writing Two-thirds of students did notdemonstrate solid performance in writing Fourth-Grade Students 72% 28% One-third of the students demonstrated solid or superior performance in writing 4

5. Academics & EBD • The relationship between emotional and behavioral disorders and low academic achievement has been well documented in the literature (Wehby et al, 2003). • Despite this, academic deficits of students with emotional and behavioral disorders is often secondary to behavior/emotional needs (Gunter & Denny, 1998)

6. Academics & EBD • Historically, less emphasis on academics for EBD students • Problem behaviors are mitigated when students are engaged in instruction • Academic lesson and intervention must be instructionally appropriate • Reinforcement that is often and specific is effective

7. Writing intervention for students with EBD • Recent research has sought to identify interventions to remediate academic skills for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. • Behavioral Disorders special issue • Reading • Writing

8. The Nation’s Report Card: Implications Significant number of students have not developed mastery in basic writing skills Students at greatest risk for not developing mastery include: Eligible for free/reduced price lunch (83%) English Language Learners (93%) Eligible for special education services (83%) 8

9. Research-Based Effective Teaching Strategies • Students learn more when they are actively engaged in instructional tasks • High success rates correlate positively with student learning outcomes • The more content covered, the greater the potential for student learning • Students become independent learners through instruction that is deliberate and carefully planned

10. How Do We Improve Children’s Basic Writing Skills? Lower-order writing skills: Handwriting and spelling Capitalization, punctuation, and grammar Text generation Higher-order writing skills: Planning processes Text generation (increased expectations for amount, nature, quality) SOURCES: Berninger, V. W. et al. (2006). Tier 1 and Tier 2 early intervention for handwriting and composing. Journal of School Psychology, 44, 3-30.  Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2005). Improving the writing performance of young struggling writers. The Journal of Special Education, 39, 19-33.  10

11. How Do We Improve Children’s Basic Writing Skills? Writing fluency: The total number of words written within 3 minutes 11

12. How Do We Improve Children’s Writing Fluency? Provide instructional/performance feedback to promote children’s writing fluency Based on Thorndike’s law of effect (1898, 1911): Feedback serves to reinforce stimulus-response association 12

13. Classwide Performance Feedback Study 11 week study 2 weeks for baseline; 9 weeks for intervention 4 Middle School classrooms 7 participants were assigned to the No Feedback Condition 8 participants were assigned to the Performance Feedback Condition Participants were probed once a week at the beginning of the class

14. Results

16. Choice v. No Choice Study 6 week study 1 Elementary School classroom 6 participants Administered either Choice or No Choice writing session All 6 participants performed better during the Choice condition 5 of 6 participants made more gains across time during the Choice condition

24. Evidence Based Strategies • Give choice • Performance feedback • Student-interest driven materials • Peer learning activities • Self-monitoring • Tie-in with reinforcement

25. Conclusions • Performance Feedback Study • ROI • No Feedback= 0.97 • Feedback= 3.81 • Choice Study • ROI • No Choice= 1.27 • Choice= 3.83

26. Intervention Advantages • Monitoring • Clearly defined • Already a component of the classroom activities • Training • Length of time • Class-wide • Increased interest and motivation

27. Future Directions • Replicate in different settings • Self contained class in public school • Inclusive • Evaluate benefits of reinforcement in combination with other interventions • Evaluate generalization of effects • Application of effective practices with EBD population • Mason et al., 2010 • Little et al., 2010

28. Contact Information Carlos J. Panahon, PhD carlos.panahon@mnsu.edu Minnesota Sate University, Mankato Mankato, MN Alexandra Hilt-Panahon, PhD alexandra.panahon@mnsu.edu Minnesota State University, Mankato Mankato, MN Lauren A. Arbolino, PhD larbolino@gmail.com Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus, OH