https://doi.org/10.1177/0731948717701260 Learning Disability Quarterly 2018, Vol. 41(1) 44–61 © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0731948717701260 journals.sagepub.com/home/ldq Article Children need to demonstrate sufficient writing skills to meet curriculum demands for writing and to succeed in their classes, as well as to deepen understanding of them- selves and the world (Graham & Perin, 2007). However, writing often is a difficult and complex task that requires children not only to have the cognitive resources for pro- ducing varied texts, such as topic, genre, and linguistic knowledge and specific writing skills and techniques, but also to have adequate meta-cognitive abilities to monitor their writing-related thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and to maintain a positive attitude toward writing (Troia, 2006). Children with language-learning disabilities (LLD) who display normal nonverbal cognitive abilities but experience oral and written language difficulties that adversely affect their academic performance (National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities [NJCLD], 1990) have been found to demonstrate difficulties in many aspects of writing (Dockrell, Lindsay, & Connelly, 2009). Compared with their same-age peers, children with LLD compose shorter texts (Dockrell et al., 2009); demonstrate a limited ability to generate and organize their ideas; display many errors in grammar, spelling, and other writing conventions (Dockrell & Connelly, 2009); and write papers with poorer overall quality (Fey, Catts, Proctor-Williams, Tomblin, & Zhang, 2004). Writing Strategy Instruction To address the writing difficulties that children with LLD experience with idea generation and organization and tran- scription accuracy, and to help improve their overall writing performance (e.g., text quality), explicit strategy instruction is likely to be beneficial (Graham & Perin, 2007). Planning strategy instruction has been employed to teach children with learning disabilities (LD) to write across different genres including stories and personal narratives (Saddler, 2006), informative papers (MacArthur & Philippakos, 2010), and persuasive essays (Troia & Graham, 2002), and evidence has shown that the planning strategies help chil- dren more effectively generate and organize their ideas and write longer texts in these genres with better overall quality (Tracy, Reid, & Graham, 2009). Compared with the exist- ing planning intervention studies for children with LD in general, a limited array of research has addressed the 701260LDQ XX X 10.1177/0731948717701260Learning Disability QuarterlyShen and Troia research-article 2017 1 Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA Corresponding Author: Mei Shen, Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education, Michigan State University, 447 Erickson Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. Email: shenmei@msu.edu Teaching Children With Language-Learning Disabilities to Plan and Revise Compare–Contrast Texts Mei Shen, PhD 1 and Gary A. Troia, PhD, CCC-SLP 1 Abstract This study used a multiple-probe, multiple-baseline single-case design to investigate the efficacy of planning, and then revising strategy instruction using self-regulated strategy development on the compare–contrast writing performance of three late elementary students with language-learning disabilities. After receiving the planning instruction, all three students spent more time planning and generated quality written plans. Their essays were longer, included more text structure elements, and demonstrated better overall quality. After receiving the subsequent revising instruction, further increases in writing accuracy were found, but planning time, quality of written plans, text length, and text structure elements somewhat decreased. Also, overall essay quality did not further improve following revising instruction. Positive gains were maintained for 4 weeks and generalized to writing explanatory essays. Keywords strategy instruction, language-learning disabilities, compare–contrast writing