Hidden Disabilities School Experiences and Offending: Incidence and Associations Dr John Rack Dyslex

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Hidden Disabilities School Experiences and
Offending Incidence and AssociationsDr John
RackDyslexia Actionjrack_at_dyslexiaaction.org.uk
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Tony Age 22
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Poor Literacy Skills

• What contributes?
• Social and cultural factors
• Quality of Education
• Individual Learner characteristics
• Hidden Disabilities
• What can be done?

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Steps forward

• Individual at the heart of learning and training
• How many individuals have Hidden Disabilities?
• Dyslexia Institute Study commissioned by Learning
  and Skills Council

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Identification of Hidden Disabilities?

• Questionnaire 357 Offenders
• 45 Minutes
• Diagnostic Assessment 93 Offenders
• 2 hours
• A Functional Approach
• Methods developed for a project with JobCentre
  Plus

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Hidden Disabilities Questionnaire

• Do you find filling in forms (e.g. job
  applications) difficult and confusing?
• Do you sometimes know what you want to say but
  cannot find the words to say what you mean?
• Do you get bored easily and like to flick between
  different activities?

• Spelling, writing, spatial skills
• Word retrieval
• Concentration and Attention

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Hidden Disabilities Questionnaire

• Do you seem to bump into things or knock things
  over more than other people?
• Do you find it difficult to work out how much
  several things will cost when you are shopping?
• In a social situation do others often get the
  point of a joke before you do?

• Spatial awareness, motor co-ordination
• Working memory, arithmetic skills
• Speed, Social use of language

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Attention Deficit Disorder
Spatial Awareness Motor-skills and co-ordination
Dyslexia
Dyspraxia
Autistic Spectrum Disorders
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Previous Estimates of Hidden Disabilities in the
Prison Population

• Dyslexia 4 to 80
• ADHD 80

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Yorkshire and Humberside Prison Study

• Random sample from all categories of prison
• Interviewed 357 prisoners
• Assessed 93 prisoners

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Distribution of HDQ Indicators
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Normal Range Spelling
Below Average Spelling
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Diagnostic Tests

• Phonological Skills
• What is coat without the c sound
• Spoonerisms
• Repetition of unfamiliar words
• Short Term Memory
• Digit Span
• Visual Motor Co-ordination
• Coding

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Anthony Age 22

• Left school at the age of 14.
• No formal qualifications.
• Had Statement of Special Educational Needs
• Received 1 to 1 support for reading at school
• Played truant at school for weeks at a time

• Lived with mum for longest while growing up
• Lived with partner when committed offence.
• Family history of problems with reading.

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Findings

• 50 of Prison Population have literacy skills
  below functional levels
• 20 of Prison Population have Hidden Disabilities
  impacting on literacy skills
• Three to four times the incidence in the general
  population

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Study Differences

• Dyslexia Over-identified
• Screening Checklists
• Equated with poor literacy
• Under-identified
• Those with below average IQ are excluded

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Hidden Disabilities

• Specific Literacy Difficulties and Positive
  Indicators of Dyslexia
• 9
• Dyspraxia
• 2
• Positive Indicators and additional difficulties
  on Cognitive and Language Tasks
• 9
• Hidden Disabilities of all kinds
• 20

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Overlap of INDICATORS
Dyslexia Indicators 137
16 Not Positive on Dyspraxia
128 Dyspraxia Indicators
7 Not Positive on Dyslexia
37 Not Positive on Dyslexia
132 ADD Indicators
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Exclusions and HDQ
Low B/L High Total Excluded no 61 28 37 126
suspended 38 17 35 90 expelled 48 24 59 131 To
tal 147 69 131 347
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Dyslexic Non-dyslexic Differences?
Dyslexic Non Dyslexic Total No
reported history 15 15 30 family reading
problems 6 5 11 Total 21 20 41
Dyslexic Non Dyslexic Total never
had full time permanent job 10 6 16 Had full
time permanent job 12 15 27 Total 22 21 4
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Attitude To school
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Offenders with Hidden Disabilities

• Twice failed by the system
• Often not recognised at school
• Limited support for training and resettlement
• Big problem expectation that one system works
  for all

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Positive Identification

• Dyslexia can be identified, positively, in
  populations where other social and cultural
  explanations for poor literacy might be thought
  of first

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Double disadvantage

• Hidden Disabilities such as Dyslexia do not lead
  to offending behaviour directly
• It appears to be those with Hidden Disabilities
  who lack other cognitive and cultural resources
  who are more likely to be over-represented in the
  prison population.