Principle Investigator: Lauren Kenworthy- Children’s National Hospital

Grant: A Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Trial of a School-Based Executive Function Treatment for Transition Aged Youth with Autism

Project Description: This study is an upward extension of the Unstuck & On Target curriculum used in elementary schools. UOT:HS targets executive function skills necessary for the transition to adulthood. UOT:HS was previously studied in 11 D.C. Metro-area schools, and found that students receiving UOT:HS were more flexible, goal-directed, and had better emotion regulation skills in the classroom and adaptive skills at home compared to those receiving traditional IEP supports at school. Schools liked the curriculum content, found it easy to deliver, and continued to use it. The present study seeks to confirm these findings with a larger number of students with autism across the D.C. Metro area. We want to study which students benefit from UOT:HS, and how to make implementing UOT:HS easy and sustainable. By listening to and observing different teaching styles, we will create best-practice guidelines for delivering UOT:HS, promoting sustainability, and encouraging spread across school districts.

Who can participate? Students who are enrolled in high school and have the cognitive and behavioral capacity to benefit and understand the Unstuck material. Participants need to be able to communicate about events that happened in the past or will happen in the future, and participate in small group activities and discussions about things they want to achieve at school, what they want to do after graduation, and what their hopes are for the future. They must either exhibit traits of autism, be receiving any kind of support/service for autism, or have a clinical diagnosis of autism.

To learn more about Unstuck & On Target, visit: https://www.unstuckandontarget.com/

Contact: Hannah Behar, hbehar@childrensnational.org

Unstuck & On Target: High School, School-based Trial