Learning Disabled Juvenile Offenders: A USA Perspective

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Learning Disabled Juvenile Offenders A USA
Perspective

• Deborah Shelton, PhD, RN, CNA
• Program Director,
• Child Adolescent Behavioral Health
• Associate Professor School of Nursing
• The Catholic University of America Washington, DC

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Background

• 9 of public school students qualify for special
  education services (US Dept. Education 1998)
• 3-5 times as many youth received special
  education services in public schools prior JJ
  involvement
• 20 of students with emotional disabilities are
  arrested at least once before they leave school
  (OJJDP, 2000)

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Background

• Nearly 70 of incarcerated youth suffer from
  disabling conditions (Leone, 1995)
• Youth with LD or MI are arrested at higher rates
  than non-disabled peers (Center for Education
  Human Services, 1997)
• 3-5 times as many youth received special
  education services in public schools prior JJ
  involvement
• On average cost for special services 5,982
  (US)

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National Estimates
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Rights of Juvenile Offenders

• Every youth with a disability, as defined by
  Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
  (IDEA,34 C.F.R. 300.7(c)) is entitled to Free
  Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).
• This entitlement exists for all eligible children
  and youth, including those involved in the
  juvenile justice system between the ages of 3-21,
  including children with disabilities who have
  been suspended or expelled from school.

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Unique Application of Policy to Juvenile Justice
Systems

• Upon intake- the youth becomes a family of 1, all
  rights accorded under IDEA transfer to the
  individual
• Conflict in policies-Stay Put Rule vs zero
  tolerance polices
• Suspension requirements Individual Education
  Plan (IEP). At 10 days, they also need a
  behavioral intervention plan and an assessment to
  determine if the behavior is related to the
  disability.

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A System in Trouble

• Competing purposes rehabilitate or punish?
• One size does not fit all a need for
  differentiated programming
• Overcrowding and understaffing
• 25 of facilities do not routinely assess
• 40 do not meet standards for mental health or
  special education
• -National Council on Disability, 2003

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Perspectives on Young Offenders with LD

• Two causal chain theories debated
• School failure hypothesis
• Susceptibility theory
• Over represented in juvenile systems

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Risk Factors for Delinquency Among Youth with LD

• Pre-school developmental limitations
• Impulsivity
• Irritability
• Borderline intelligence (IQ 71-84)
• Brain injury

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Definitions

• Specific learning disorder as defined by DSM-IV
• Reading disorder
• Mathematics disorder
• Disorder of written expression
• LD NOS

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Diagnostic Features

• Conduct Disorder
• Oppositional Defiant Disorder
• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
• Major Depressive Disorder
• Dysthymic Disorder

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Associated Features

• Demoralization
• Low self-esteem
• Deficits in social skills
• School drop-out rate 40
• Underlying abnormalities in cognitive processing

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Pathway of LD to Delinquency

• Overlap between achievement difficulties,
  particularly in reading and acting-out/externali
  zing behavior problems
• Commonly, the trajectory shifts to depression by
  adolescence

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Pathways to Delinquency for Youth with Learning
Disorders
community
Learning difficulties/ poor school readiness
Disruptive behavior/ suspension expulsion/
family
child
Rejection in classroom
high drop-out rates/ with deviant peers
Depression/ Delinquent Activity
early risk factors school entry
early school years preadolescence
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Methodology

• 372 youth, 60 females
• Random sample, 25 of all males, all females
• Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children
• Global Assessment of Functioning
• Dept. Juvenile Justice records
• Child Health Inventory Profile
• Dept. Juvenile Justice cost records

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Maryland Data

• 143 youth (38) diagnosed with a LD as noted on
  Axis 2
• For youth with LD diagnosis
• 100 male, 93 urban resident
• 79 African American
• 79 15-17 years of age
• 96 avg. intelligence

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Social Data

• 43 family income lt 30,000 annually
• 53 public insurance, 24 no insurance
• 4 not in school 66 High school

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Other Factors

• Comparing youth with LD diagnosis to those
  without
• 71 physical/sexual abuse
  (?213.41, df2, p .001)
• 43 suspended/expelled
  (?219.85, df5, p .001)

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First Treatment by JJ Episode
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JJ Services over JJ episodes
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Tx Services over JJ Episodes
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Service Gaps

• Youth most likely to encounter service gaps are
  those youth with substance abuse and mental
  health problems, adjudicated as delinquent with
  multiple health problems, including those with
  disabilities and likely to drop out of school.
• - Report of the Surgeon General- Mental
  Health Culture, Race, Ethnicity, 2001

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To treat or incarcerate?

• Missed prevention opportunities
• Disconnect between recognition of aggressive and
  violent behaviors as symptoms
• Youth misconceptions about their health status

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Target Interventions

• Nationally, youth confined to institutions have a
  low level of functioning with respect to basic
  skills needed for living in the community
• Problem solving as a central feature can become a
  key element of successful alternative education
  programs
• Alternative Education Programs linking classrooms
  and instructional experiences to the community.

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Key Components of Effective Special
Education Programs in Juvenile Correctional
Facilities

• Integrated, multidisciplinary framework for
  service delivery
• Competency-based curriculum options
• Direct and peer-mediated instructional strategies
• Functional curriculum-based assessment

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Key Components of Effective Special
Education Programs in Juvenile Correctional
Facilities

• Pro-social Skills Curriculum
• Business and community involvement
• Professionalism, leadership, and advocacy
• Ongoing professional development
• Sufficient fiscal resources

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Effective Programs

• Adequate food, housing, clothing
• Healthcare
• Relationships with caring positive adults
• Supervision, monitoring, limit setting, control,
  discipline
• High expectations future options
• Academic skill development
• Life skill Social skill training
• Routines traditions
• Community supports, case management interface
  with schools and other organizations

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Strengthen Programs

• To ensure that eligible young people receive
  special education services, correctional
  education programs need to
• develop stronger ties to public school programs
• have fiscal and administrative autonomy from the
  correctional agency and
• meet standards associated with public school
  programs.

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Juvenile System Efforts

• JJ professionals need to learn to recognize youth
  with disabilities
• Courts need to be alert to cases that involve
  school-based difficulties
• First-time offenders with minor offenses
• Diverting cases where the disability is severe
  and where the child would be unable to comply
  with court orders
• Education dispositions

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Conclusion

• Dissemination of promising practices is not
  widespread among juvenile facilities .
• The consequences associated with school dropout
  and delinquency are staggering for the youth we
  have failed and for their familiesas it is for
  all citizens.

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Resources

• Child Trends Guide to Effective Programs
• http//www.childtrends.org/lifecourse/index.htm
• What Works for Child and Youth Development
• http//www.childtrends.org/childyouthdevelopment_i
  ntroa.asp
• Administration for Children and Families
  Promising Practices
• http//nccanch.acf.hhs.gov/profess/promising/index
  .cfm