Special Education Students as Tutors: A Review and Analysis

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Abstract
Although accounts of cross-age and peer tutoring date back to the first century A.D., only recently have special educators begun to investigate its effects with handicapped students. The purpose of the present article is to synthesize the results of these investigations, emphasizing the effects of tutoring on the academic and personal/social skills of both tutors and tutees. In general, research has shown that handicapped and remedial students can be trained to tutor both peers and younger students in a variety of content areas. Results further show that academic and personal/social benefits come to special education students, as well as to those they tutor, although the data regarding academic achievement is more convincing than the data regarding changes in general self-esteem. Following the summary of results of tutoring implications for instruction are discussed, and suggestions are given for improving the quality of future tutoring research.