Female incarcerated adolescents with language problems talk about their own communication behaviors and learning

Qualitative methodology was used to explore communication behaviors of 13 female adolescents with language problems who resided in a correctional facility. Girls between ages of 13 and 17 were interviewed on four questions about their communication behaviors and school learning experiences. Data were analyzed from three triangulated sources that included interviews, a review of school records, and test results from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-3, the Adolescent WORD Test (WORD Test), the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL), and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III (PPVT-III). Themes emerging from the interviews were: (a) how teenagers communicate with friends, parents, and authority; (b) participants’ views about themselves; and (c) how they describe their learning in school. Many spoke about their feelings and interactions as well as their struggles with listening, thinking, speaking, and reading. Implications raise concerns of whether the current educational system is adequately considering how language deficits and disorders impact this troubled population. (1) Readers will understand how female adolescents with language problems who resided in a correctional facility view their communication with friends and authority figures such as parents, teachers, and correctional educators. (2) Readers will understand the views of adolescents about their learning experiences at school prior to when they were committed to a correctional facility. (3) Readers will understand examples of language behaviors that may have related to why some of the participants struggled with learning in school.