Jj is for Jottings 79.  Literacy, Language and Prison.

Here are studies from three countries on the relationship between literacy, language and prison or young offender sentences:

1. USA.

Approximately 80% of prison inmates are functionally illiterate, and 47.8% of the inmates were deficient in word attack skills, according to reports.  (Texas, 2000)

2. UK

In a 2001 study on the relationship between dyslexia and youth offending, 50% of young offenders were dyslexic to some degree.

This is not to suggest that people with literacy disorders are more likely to be bad people, but shows where low literacy rates and limited opportunity can lead.  These statistics suggest that almost half of those Texan inmates and Scottish young offenders lacked the literacy levels to access texts. This means that they have never been taught the knowledge or skills to decode text or, as a result of specific learning difficulties, they have not acquired this knowledge.

Illiteracy can be caused by a variety of psychological, medical and environmental factors. Long absences from school because of sickness or lack of parental support will affect reading opportunities. In addition to this, dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties can cause students to struggle to decode, despite access to regular schooling.  And it cannot be denied that, in some cases, poor teaching practices have contributed to low levels of literacy.

3.  AUSTRALIA.

In a Senate submission in 2014, Pamela Snow outlines the correlation between language impairment and young offender rates. Between 46% and 52% of male young offenders had clinically significant but previously undiagnosed language disorders.  These disorders often present as poor motivation, rudeness, inattentiveness and disengagement. She didn’t mention this, but people with language disorders frequently do not understand humour, which can be socially isolating.  Visually-based jokes are fine, of course.

These young offenders struggle to communicate and also have very poor literacy rates, which greatly reduces employability.  It seems that crime fills the gap where good literacy skills might have given them a more positive future.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO BREAK THIS CYCLE?

Snow says that evidenced-based reading tuition and speech pathology intervention, particularly in the first three years of schooling is vital to empower those at risk. By intervening early, literacy skills can be acquired and access to mainstream employment secured. The evidence tells us that the best reading tuition is where systematic and cumulative phonics is taught.  Here’s a good thought – introduce preschoolers to Aa is for Alpacas and get them off to a flying start!

AND FOR TEENS AND ADULTS WHO CAN’T READ?

They, too, must be taught phonics in a systematic and cumulative manner by specialist teachers and speech pathologists who understand the additional challenges caused by a specific learning disability.  This needs to be supported by age-appropriate texts which are fully decodable and sequential.

More about decodable readers later.

 

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