The effect of a strategic instruction intervention on the mastery of information by postsecondary students with learning disabilities

Learning Disabilities (LD) are defined as chronic cognitive and academic difficulties that persist throughout one\u27s lifespan. A variety of negative outcomes have been associated with LD, including elevated high-school dropout rates, prolonged financial and emotional dependence, and issues with reduced self-esteem. Increased numbers of students with LD in postsecondary settings indicates a need for postsecondary institutions to determine effective methods for supporting this population. However, a lack of empirically based interventions specifically for postsecondary students with LD currently exists. One potentially effective intervention is strategy instruction (SI), which targets the development of compensatory strategies to facilitate efficient learning. This study evaluated the use of one of the interventions under the umbrella of SI, the Paired Associates Strategy (PAS), which has yielded improvement in the recall of information among adolescents with LD. Results of a multiple baseline design suggested that a modified version of PAS was effective in improving short-term recall of information by postsecondary students with LD. However, students did not uniformly support the strategy despite significant gains in recall of information. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.