Juvenile and young offenders: speech, language &

communication needs

Professor Karen BryanFaculty of Health and Medical Sciences,

University of Surrey.

Successful feasibility study of SLT for young people in prisons:

• Two year project funded by the Helen Hamlyn Trust in partnership with the Prison Service.– Set up and evaluated a speech and language

therapy (SLT) service in each establishment.– Collected data on speech, language and

communication needs.– Established that SLT could make a very

positive contribution to the regimes.

• Issues: – Security– Noise– Regimes that vary for across establishments– A language of their own– A culture that can be alien– A ‘rule’ culture and vast amounts of written

information– Most interventions to address offending

behaviour are verbally mediated.

Sample of juveniles

• Sample of 58 participants (half of an establishment).

• Mean age was 17 (15.2-18.1).• 2 had ESL (lower than expected).• 90% left school before 16 and of these 18%

were not attending at age 12 or younger.• Entry level literacy: 62% did not reach level one

for literacy, 60% did not reach level one for numeracy.

Language levels on TOAL-3

• 46%-67% of the juveniles are in the poor or very poor category.

• A further 20-33% are below average for their age.

• See Bryan et al (2007)

Why are levels of speech, language and communication difficulty high?

• Association between speech and language disorders and behaviour difficulties is well established (Humber and Snow 2001).

• Difficulties in understanding make children very vulnerable in relation to education (Hooper et al 2003).

• Low education and speech and literacy difficulties are risk factors for offending (Tomblin 2000).

• Over-representation of hearing impaired, learning difficulty, mental health problems within the prisoner population.

• Where developmental difficulties have not been addressed, these contribute to the cycle of disadvantage (RCSLT 07).

SLT within the regimes

• Referrals included a range of communication difficulties.

• SLT focus on enabling the young person with communication difficulties to engage in the prison regime.

• Access to other inputs eg education by making information accessible, and innovative developments eg a parenting group and SLT training provided for Learning Support Assistants.

• SLT bridges education and health.

Evidence Base

• We have a very strong evidence base for speech and language therapy in relation to both developmental and acquired speech and language difficulties.

• The recent ICAN report on Social Inclusion also provides an evidence base for speech and language therapy in relation to preventing and addressing social inclusion.

Criminal Justice system

• Not just young people who are ‘inside’• Need to consider:

– School non-attenders and excluded children– Adults with pervasive developmental

problems– Children with non-standard educational

backgrounds eg ‘looked after’, traveller children

– Children known to post offending and offender prevention services eg probation and YOT teams.

Summary

• There is a need for SLT and we can demonstrate that SLT works- we have an evidence base and a theoretical model.

• Demonstrating a contribution to the wider service/regime has been achieved.

• We need to develop a national model for SLT provision.

• Bryan K, Freer J and Furlong C. (2007) Language and communication difficulties in juvenile offenders. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 42, 505-520.

• Bryan, K. (2004). Prevalence of speech and language difficulties in young offenders. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 39, 391-400.

• Hooper S J, Roberts J E, Zeisel SA, and Poe M. (2003). Core language predictors of behavioural functioning in early elementary school children: Concurrent and longitudinal findings. Behavioral Disorders, 29(1): 10-21.

• Humber E, and Snow PC. (2001). The language processing and production skills of juvenile offenders: A pilot investigation. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law 8, 1-11.

• ICAN (2007) language and Social Exclusion. • RCSLT (2007) Speaking Out: young offenders with

communication difficulties. London: RCSLT.