Mentoring Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Evaluation of Role-Specific Workshops for Mentors and Mentees.
Rumi Agarwal, Laura Heron, Mitra Naseh and 1 others
PMID 32666198WHAT IT FOUND
Mentors who completed disability awareness training improved their knowledge scores, but training did not improve mentee knowledge.
Both groups rated the workshops highly, with mentors asking for more specific strategies to support students with intellectual disabilities in their weekly meetings.
Key findings
01Mentor knowledge significantly improved after the disability awareness workshop, but did not improve after other workshops.
02Student mentee knowledge did not significantly improve after any of the four workshops they attended.
03Mentors requested more specific training on how to motivate students and understand their individual limitations.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This was a pilot study with a small sample size (15-18 respondents for some mentor workshops), which limits the reliability of the null findings. The knowledge tests may have been too simple for mentors or too complex for mentees, leading to floor or ceiling effects. There was no control group, so it is impossible to know if the mentoring program itself caused any changes compared to no intervention. The study relied on self-reported feedback and pre/post tests, which can be influenced by participants' desire to please the researchers.
Declared interests
Funded by the University of Central Florida through a grant from the Office of Postsecondary Education, United States Department of Education, and FIU Embrace.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the positive survey ratings as evidence that the workshops improved student outcomes. The study measured knowledge acquisition, not actual mentoring effectiveness or student success, and mentee knowledge scores did not improve.