ERIC Number: ED283349
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1986-Apr
Pages: 17
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Intellectually Handicapped Students as Tutors: Implementing Total Class Tutoring.
Eiserman, William D.; Osguthorpe, Russell T.
The second year of a 2-year study on the benefits of using handicapped students to tutor nonhandicapped peers focused on the effects of having all students in a special class tutor simultaneously (the total class tutoring method). Forty intellectually handicapped students (IQs ranging from 50 to 75) tutored 60 nonhandicapped agemates in basic sign language (learned previously in the special class setting). The program was evaluated based on free-play observations, parent interviews, teacher interviews, and tutoring observations. The free-play observations indicated a significant increase in the time spent by handicapped students interacting with nonhandicapped students after tutoring began, suggesting the positive impact of reverse role tutoring on the social acceptance of handicapped students. In interviews with 20 parents of tutors, most parents reported their child as having positive feelings about the program, improved social interactions, improved self-esteem, and improved communication skills. Results of interviews with the three special class teachers indicated that all of the teachers perceived significant benefits from the tutoring program. The regular class teachers who were interviewed indicated the greatest benefit was the opportunity for their students to develop friendships with handicapped students. Finally, observations of the tutoring sessions indicated that students maintained the tutor/tutee relationship and tutors consistently performed basic tutoring skills. (DE)
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A