Improving academic performance through a school-based intervention targeting academic executive functions - a pilot study.

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.