Effects of GO 4 IT... NOW! Strategy instruction on the written IEP goal articulation and paragraph-writing skills of middle school students with disabilities

The current standards-based reform movement, which emphasizes teaching academic skills to all students, holds promise for students with disabilities. However, there is concern that this movement's sole focus on academic skills will leave less room for teaching self-determination skills. One possible solution is to identify interventions that can teach self-determination and academic skills simultaneously. This study investigated the effects of such an intervention (i.e., GO 4 IT... NOW!) with 12 middle school students with high-incidence disabilities. The findings showed a functional relationship between the instruction and (a) students' abilities to articulate Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals in writing and (b) paragraph-writing skills in students' IEP goal paragraphs.