Learning difficult for most offenders

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EDUCATION: A new report says 92 percent of youth offenders had at least one learning disability.

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Most Kiwi youth offenders have a learning disability, and a quarter have suffered a head injury as a child, new research shows.

More than half of the mothers of offenders in Christchurch and Wellington youth units had used "medicines, alcohol or cigarettes" during pregnancy, the Canterbury University study also showed.

Co-author Dr Julia Rucklidge, a psychologist, said 92 per cent of youth offenders had at least one learning disability.

The results showed the "they'll be all right" attitude to children struggling to learn to read could have a major long-term impact.

Support had improved since study participants were at school in the 1990s, but schools still lacked the resources to help those with learning disabilities, Rucklidge said.

It was important to help children early, as by the time they hit their teens it was an "uphill battle".

The longitudinal study interviewed and tested 60 people in youth units, and then researchers rechecked them four years later.

Of the study participants, 92 per cent had at least one learning disability, while 42 per cent had difficulties in all three areas examined – reading, maths and oral language.

A quarter of the young offenders had had head injuries while young, while nearly 60 per cent of the mothers said they had used medicines, alcohol and cigarettes during their pregnancy.

The offenders' IQs were also below average.

Those with the worst reading comprehension generally committed more serious offences, and were repeat offenders, Rucklidge said.

More than half had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms as well as learning difficulties, but less than a fifth had been diagnosed with the condition.

A general group of young people was tested to allow comparison of the results.

The rates of learning disabilities were 30 per cent higher among youth offenders.

However, youth offenders were receiving "inconsistent educational programming".

"Observations while on site indicated that many of the youth tested had been suspended from the prison school," the study said.

Rucklidge said the research showed education and rehabilitation programmes in youth units needed to take into account the prevalence of learning disabilities.

Many programmes required a lot of reading material that was not much use if offenders could not understand it.

"Learning disability contributes significantly to risk of future anti-social behaviour in incarcerated youth," the research said.

"Our results suggest that educational interventions need to take into account the wide range of learning difficulties apparent in the sample.

"The effects of such behaviour problems and delinquency are far-reaching and concern not only the child and his or her family, but also teachers and peers, and pose serious clinical and social problems," the study said.

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