Assistance and Support Provided to Students With Executive Function Deficits During Distance Teaching

Tadeja Batagelj and Sara Mičič

Summary:  Due to a specific situation, related to the outbreak of coronavirus disease (Covid-19), students encountered a new method of work that required changes and adjustments. We assume that current functioning related to the performance of schoolwork had to be adjusted predominately when planning and organizing schoolwork as well as supervising and monitoring own activities. Therefore, students with executive function deficits may experience greater difficulties in doing their schoolwork remotely than students without such problems. We have prepared a set of six workshops that included learning of specific skills, such as strategies for organizing schoolwork, space for learning and spending free time, strategies for efficient memorization, regulation and management of emotions, as well as starting an activity. The purpose of this article is to present the pilot research, used to examine if students or parents of the students, who reported executive functions issues, perceive remote workshops as efficient. When determining the suitability and effectiveness of this approach, we relied on the parents’ feedback and self-assessment of children enrolled in the workshop. Results of the pilot research indicate that children experience the intervention as beneficial and believe that they will use some of the specific strategies, demonstrated in the context of the intervention; however, they highlighted some of the downsides of the implemented intervention, primarily related to the limited time and personal contact with other participants. Parents report that their children progressed the most in the field of organizational skills, while they observed less progress in the field of memorization strategies and emotional control.