Table 4.

Focus Group Themes and Illustrative Quotes

Theme	Youth Quotes	Parent Quotes
1) EF is a Barrier to Academic Success
Difficulty Remembering	Not turning in homework	But it’s the fact that he – he’ll put it in his bag, and then when he gets to school, he won’t hand it in. Assignments weren’t getting turned in.
Organization / Planning	Getting things done on time Getting ready for school Not knowing when to do homework	So then I order the assignments. He has a job of unpacking backpack to get this planner out and this homework folder. And then I go through it and just verify with him what needs to be done tonight. They carry around these planners, but sometimes there’s nothing in her planner that week. So I don’t know there’s a science test on Thursday.
Paying Attention	Listening to people at school	For him, listening does not mean sitting in a chair. For him listening means pacing at the back of the room. If at any point during a lecture, he doesn’t understand what they are saying, then he completely shuts down.
Multitasking	Just do it in class as the teacher’s talking	can’t take notes and listen to the teacher … because she couldn’t keep up with how fast teacher moved
Self-Control/Inhibition	I’m the boss When I don’t do it, because I’m lazy	They have no flexibility. Once you mess up the schedule, it can come crashing down But he will not turn anything in if he doesn’t feel like doing it.
2) Expectations for Independence and Socialization Make Middle School Particularly Challenging	Not applicable	Some basic skills you feel are not being taught for your kids to be successful in life. You’ve gotta teach us or at least tell us ways to support those without intervening or doing them for them. Like, ways to make sure that we are supporting the strategies, um, you know, they’re gonna be going through, and that we can do the best to get them to reinforce them and help them.
Limited Abstract Thinking		And then, all of a sudden, in sixth grade when there’s abstract thinking and inferences, he’s struggling. So he’s reading at a sixth grade level, but his comprehension is at a third grade level.
Difficulty Understanding Social Inferences		But no he doesn’t understand social …he says, “Well if that kid did it, and he didn’t get in trouble. But if I do a certain behavior, they’re yelling at me.” Not being a part of the group affects his studies.
3) Individual Academic Challenges	Reading [most difficult subject] Math [most difficult subject]	I sit with him and help him do homework every night to make sure it gets done. Math, we’re a rocket scientist and, you know, he’s a superstar there. But language arts, we struggle in, So, it seems to be like there’s one area that’s a strength, and then one area that’s a weakness. We pretty much have to reteach everything that is being taught at school at home.
4) High Need for Parental Involvement	Homework is stressful extra time with Roku Money, rewards listening to music or email video games, TV, internet spending more time with family	I swear I’ve gotten her to do math problems or whatever by giving her an M&M… if she did good, we’d give her, you know, screen time, like Xbox. I tell her on Friday, you can spend- she earns a dollar a day for good behavior at school.
5) Challenges with Academic Accommodations	Not applicable	And she supposedly had intervention specialists in certain classes, but those were the classes where she was messing up the most. Assignments weren’t getting turned in, and you’re like, ‘What are you doing?’ I mean her executive skills were that poor and she wasn’t getting any help for it. Last year, we fought with the school where we were in it every month for the entire school year trying to get the IEP straight, and they just wouldn’t listen to us. We need to fill the gaps, I get that. But nobody’s talking about how great he is at this or pushing him even harder and faster in an area where – if you build his confidence there, maybe he’ll be able to, then, apply that or be more interested in these other things.
6) Critical Role for Teachers	Can give me more time to get homework done Explain work more Sheet showing when homework is due	You gotta stay on top, consistently for good communication. And if it’s not working, you go in, and you say, “Hey this isn’t working. What are we going to do about it?” And teachers will get frustrated with him. And then they’ll just turn off, and they won’t help him anymore. Teachers, they need to be more creative with kids with autism. I think teachers should be taught, themselves, how to deal with these moving kids.