Impact of Unsupervised Parent Tutors On Word Recognition Skills

The effectiveness of supplementary home tutoring of special education students in reading was evaluated, using a program requiring minimal professional involvement. Forty-one parents of full-time special education students were randomly assigned before the study either to receive the home tutoring program or to receive it on a delayed basis following the study's completion. After a two-week instructional period, children whose parents had received the materials scored significantly higher (p < .001) on a word recognition test than those whose parents had not yet received them. A second study suggested that parents could and would make their own materials, hence potentially reducing the need for professional involvement in the process.