This digest discusses using strategy instruction to assist students with learning disabilities. It begins by describing strategy instruction as teaching students about strategies, teaching them how and when to use strategies, helping students identify personally effective strategies, and encouraging students to make strategic behaviors part of their learning schema. Terms associated with strategy instruction are then defined, including cognitive strategies, cues, independent, strategic learner, learning strategy, metacognition and self-regulating, mnemonic, and learning schema. The effectiveness of strategy instruction and student outcomes when they become strategic are discussed. The digest then identifies the most essential strategies to use for improving student performance: computation and problem solving; memory; productivity; reading accuracy and fluency; reading comprehension; and writing. The basic steps in teaching strategy use are also provided, including: (1) describe the strategy; (2) model its use; (3) provide ample assisted practice time and provide feedback; (4) promote student self-monitoring and evaluation of personal strategy use; and (5) encourage continued use and generalization of the strategy. The digest closes by discussing how little information is available to determine how many teachers teach strategic learning skills and reasons why teachers may not be using strategy instruction. (Contains 11 references.) (CR)