An easy intervention to encourage goal-directed persistence is to create a simple checklist for each independent task a student is asked to complete. The checklist should be fairly specific, so that the student can experience the satisfaction of checking of sub-tasks as they go. When giving the student a checklist for the first time, set aside 5-10 minutes to ensure they understand how to use the checklist as they work. You may also choose to build short breaks or rewards into the checklist, so that once a student has completed a certain number of tasks in a row, they can have a break or reward.