School Challenges and Services Related to Executive Functioning for Fully Included Middle Schoolers with Autism.
Middle-school IEPs ignore executive function even though autistic students crash there—add one EF goal and a teaching routine next week.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Duncan et al. (2023) talked with teachers, parents, and students.
They asked about daily struggles of autistic middle-schoolers in regular classes.
The team read IEPs to see which needs were written as goals.
What they found
Every adult named social and executive-function (EF) problems.
Yet almost no IEPs listed EF goals like planning or self-monitoring.
Teachers said they had no plan for teaching these skills.
How this fits with other research
Camodeca et al. (2020) saw the same gap in grades K-5: kids were included but participation barriers stayed.
Fong et al. (2020) and Myers et al. (2018) show parent-rated EF predicts both social skills and daily living skills in the same age band.
Rieth et al. (2022) tested an EF computer game for autistic 8-11-year-olds. It helped only the kids who also had ADHD traits, giving one tool you could try.
Why it matters
If the IEP is silent on EF, the student still fails at planning, shifting, and self-checking. Ask the teacher which routines she already uses for organization. Add one tiny EF target—like using a checklist before turning in work—and teach it with modeling and praise. You just turned inclusion into real skill building.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The educational services available for fully included middle schoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the general education setting are not well known. Even less is known about how the executive functioning (EF) deficits of such youth are addressed in the classroom. The current study sought to identify the challenges, including EF, that middle schoolers with ASD face and the services that they receive on their Individualized Education Program (IEP), and also explore specific strategies used to build EF skills at school. A convenience data sample was obtained from focus groups with educational personnel (n = 15), and qualitative analyses of IEPs were conducted in middle schoolers with ASD with EF deficits (n = 23). Results confirmed that social communication and EF challenges are common. Multiple services and accommodations were identified, although EF challenges were rarely targeted on IEPs. Factors that may facilitate the success of EF strategies in the classroom are discussed.
Focus on autism and other developmental disabilities, 2023 · doi:10.1007/s10826-017-1011-2