Many students who have experienced complex trauma receive special education services related to emotional and behavioral disorders at residential treatment facilities (RTFs) as they undergo therapy. One academic skill in which students with emotional and behavioral disorders often struggle is writing. The current multi-probe, multiple-baseline, across-groups-of-students study involved a science teacher in an RTF delivering whole-class persuasive writing instruction using the self-regulated strategy development model with 11 secondary students experiencing complex trauma. Results suggested large effects for persuasive parts (overall Tau- U = .97), word count (overall Tau- U = .96), and holistic quality (overall Tau- U = .97), as well as high social validity among participants. Implications for providing instruction to students in RTF settings and future directions for this population are included.

Shared storybook reading offers a potentially rich context for supporting language and communication development in students with severe intellectual disabilities and complex communication needs. Following the framework of community-engaged scholarship, the research team responded to a request for assistance from a special education teacher who sought to accelerate her students’ communication growth. Employing a case study design, researchers investigated the use of online professional development and eCoaching to support the implementation of interactive storybook reading strategies by a special education teacher and three of her students, ages 6 to 9 years. Results, although promising, suggest that the teacher’s use of interactive reading behaviors positively impacted the communication interactions of students with severe intellectual disabilities who have complex communication needs. Furthermore, her students increased their interactive communication, attention to text, and use of shared reading strategies across all study phases. Implications of the findings are discussed.