Teaching Middle School Students with Learning Disabilities to Recruit Peer Assistance During Cooperative Learning Group Activities

Four 8th graders with learning disabilities were taught to recruit assistance from peers during cooperative learning activities in two general education classrooms. The students were taught to show their work to a peer and make statements such as:“Can you help me?” or “How am I doing so far?” Training was conducted in the special education classroom and consisted of modeling, role playing, corrective feedback, and praise. A multiple baseline across students design showed that recruitment training increased (1) the rate of recruiting responses by the students, (2) the rate at which the students received instructional feedback and praise from peers, and (3) the productivity and accuracy with which the students completed their language arts assignments.