1. Improving Academic Performance through a School-Based Intervention Targeting Academic Executive Functions -- A Pilot Study
- Author
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Leanne Tamm, Sydney M. Risley, Elizabeth Hamik, Angela Combs, Lauren B. Jones, Jamie Patronick, Tat Shing Yeung, Allison K. Zoromski, and Amie Duncan
- Abstract
Background: Academic challenges such as losing/not turning in assignments, misplacing materials, and inefficient studying are common in middle-school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual disability. Deficits in organization, planning, prioritizing, memory/materials management, and studying skills [i.e. academic executive functioning (EF) deficits] contribute to these challenges. Objectives: To assess the feasibility, satisfaction, and initial efficacy of the school-based version of the Achieving Independence and Mastery in School (AIMS) intervention in a proof-of-concept trial with 6 students with ASD. Methods: 6 middle-schoolers with ASD without ID participated in AIMS. Parents and teachers rated academic EFs and functioning. Results: Results suggest high feasibility, youth satisfaction, and improved EF skills and academic behaviors by parent and teacher report. Conclusion: These promising results support further intervention development and suggest that academic EF skills are malleable in students with ASD.
- Published
- 2024
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