The effect of peer tutoring in physical education for middle school students with severe disabilities

This study assessed the effect of peer tutoring on physical, instructional and social interaction behaviors between middle school age students with severe and multiple disabilities (SMD) and peers without disabilities. Additional measures addressed the activity time of students with SMD. The study was conducted in inclusive general physical education settings under two instructional support conditions for students with SMD: (a) teacher-directed, and (b) peer-mediated. During teacher-directed conditions students with SMD had frequent interactions with education personnel while interactions with peers were minimal. When peer -mediated conditions were implemented, the interactions between target students and trained peer tutors increased, however, data did not present stability and clear trend. The trained peer tutors delivered fewer instructions during intervention than teachers during baseline. The activity engagement time did not change across the two conditions for both students with SMD. The social interactions remained low throughout the study.