An Update on the Use of Peer Tutoring and Students with Emotional and Behavioural Disorders

Abstract

This article presents an update of the research on the use of peer tutoring and students with emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD). Nine studies from 2001 to 2007 were identified in which students with EBD served as tutors and/or tutees to teach their peers academic and social behaviours. Five of these studies included elementary students, two included middle school students, and two in-cluded high school students. Only one study (i.e., Tournaki & Criscitiello, 2003) was implemented in the general education classroom. Peer tutoring continues to be implemented across levels of schooling with the majority of research being conducted at the elementary level in reading with continued secondary interests on the effects of behavioural issues and social skills. Clearly, there is still a need for this intervention to be validated in the middle and secondary classrooms, but specifically, with students with EBD in the general education setting.