Promoting Behavioral Regulation in Writing: Differential Effects on Indicators of Writing Performance and Learning Behaviors in 4th Graders with and without Externalizing Behavior

In a writing intervention study with 4th-graders, we examined the effects of behaviour-oriented procedures (specification of behaviour rules and intentions; feedback on desired target behaviour, and self-evaluation of behaviour progress) on the writing performance of students with aggressive and hyperactive behaviors. In two classes, 42 students, including 10 students with aggressive and hyperactive behaviors, were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: writing strategies program vs. writing strategies plus behaviour-regulation program. Both programs consisted of four 90-min sessions. In groups of nine to twelve students, all students received a cognitive strategies intervention for writing narratives (Glaser, 2005). At posttest and follow-up assessments (four weeks after the training), aggressive-hyperactive students who had been taught writing strategies in tandem with behaviour-regulation techniques outperformed students with problem behaviours who had not been taught such techniques in strategy-related and holistic measures of writing performance. Students with behaviour problems who had only received the writing strategies instruction gained least from attending the program.