Effects of Cross-Age Tutoring on Word-Recognition Performance of Learning Disabled Students

Abstract

Research has suggested that cross-age tutoring strategies facilitate individualized instruction for children with learning disabilities. Using a multiple-baseline design and direct, daily measures as the dependent variable, the present study evaluated the effects of four fifth-grade LD students tutoring one third-grade and three second-grade LD students on word-recognition skills. The results indicated that the cross-age tutoring procedure was mutually beneficial for the tutors and the tutees. During the intervention phase, all tutees improved their performance on reading sixty morphemes, while all tutors showed impressive gains in reading multisyllable words containing one or more of the morphemes they had taught. The implications of the findings for programming within LD classrooms are discussed.