School & Classroom
Achieving Independence and Mastery in School: A School-Based Executive Function Group Intervention for Autistic Middle Schoolers.
★ The Verdict
A short, twice-weekly executive-function class run by school staff can raise grades and planning skills in autistic middle-schoolers.
✓ Read this if BCBAs working with autistic students in middle schools who do not have intellectual disability.
✗ Skip if BCBAs serving preschoolers, adults, or students with severe ID.
01Research in Context
01
Why it matters
You can run AIMS in any middle school. It uses staff you already have. It takes little time and still moves the needle on grades and planning. If you serve autistic students without intellectual disability, this is a ready-made tool to add to their IEP.
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Pick one autistic sixth-grader who loses homework. Add a 10-minute daily backpack check using AIMS steps: list items, check off, pack.
02At a glance
Intervention
other
Design
randomized controlled trial
Sample size
47
Population
autism spectrum disorder
Finding
positive
Magnitude
medium
03Original abstract
Executive functioning (EF) deficits, such as challenges with planning, organization, and materials management, negatively impact academic performance, particularly for middle-school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual disability (ID). The aim was to assess the initial efficacy of the school-based version of the Achieving Independence and Mastery in School (AIMS) intervention in a pilot randomized clinical trial. 47 autistic middle-schoolers without ID attending nine different schools were randomized to participate in AIMS or to wait to receive AIMS the following semester (waitlist control = WLC). Youth, caregivers, and teachers rated academic EFs and academic functioning, and youth completed an objective EF measure, at baseline and outcome (post). Effect sizes were computed comparing baseline and post measures within each group. Individuals randomized to AIMS improved from baseline to post on academic EF outcome measures with small to moderate effect sizes, compared to WLC, who made some improvements but with generally smaller effect sizes. Analyses with academic functioning measures showed a similar pattern of results. These promising results suggest that AIMS delivered in the school by school-based personnel to small groups of students with ASD without ID can improve academic EF skills.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2024 · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2018.00015