The Strategic Instruction Model: The Less Addressed Aspects of Effective Instruction for High School Students with Learning Disabilities

In this article, we discuss research supporting the Strategic Instruction Model’sTM (SIM) effort to address higher order reasoning and thinking skills in two lines of programmatic research. We review the extant body of evidence supporting the two lines of the SIM library, the Content Enhancement Routines and a comprehensive reading program, and the impact that the materials have on high school students with learning disabilities (LD). This body of research includes studies utilizing multiple research designs including randomized control trials, single case multiplebaseline, quasi-experimental comparison group, single group, and descriptive data analysis. We have included studies that have been conducted with a SIM comprehensive reading program and instructional routines that reflect higher order thinking. These studies provide support for the positive impact the interventions have on high school students with LD.