Supporting equal inclusion of young offenders trough the identification and treatment of language disorders

Equality begins with language! 

Difficulties in speech, language, and communication increase the risk of social exclusion among young people by weakening their opportunities for education, entry into the labour market, and participation in society. A criminal conviction is one of the key indicators of marginalisation and triples the risk of social exclusion. Better communication skills enhance young people’s social equality, support their progress towards education and/or employment, and help prevent inequality, marginalisation, and reoffending. By strengthening staff competence, it is possible to break the cycle of criminal behaviour by supporting young people’s communication skills at different stages of the criminal sanctions process.

The project Supporting Equal Inclusion of Young Prisoners through the Identification and Rehabilitation of Language Difficulties promotes the development of a speech therapy service model within prisons. The project produces an online learning environment for the Prison and Probation Service to support speech, language, and communication. It is a three-year joint project between the University of Helsinki, Helsinki Brain & Mind, and Humak University of Applied Sciences in the regions of Uusimaa and Kanta-Häme. Humak’s role is to co-develop the online learning environment with the University of Helsinki and to contribute expertise in linguistic accessibility, interpreting, and communication support methods.

Objectives

1) For young prisoners under 30 years of age, a more detailed assessment of language skills based on an initial assessment and for some prisoners a short period of speech therapy rehabilitation.

2) The Prison and Probation Service of Finland and the Health Care Services for Prisoners will develop a partnership-based approach on how speech therapy can be used to promote young prisoners’ ability to function and progress towards education and/or working life during and after imprisonment as part of the intensive medical rehabilitation provided by the Social Insurance Institution in Finland.

3) A report on the nature and severity of the linguistic difficulties of young offenders in Finland.

4) An online training programme for the prison sector to support the integration of interactional and communicative tools for young people with developmental language disorders into the prison environment.

5) A survey of prison staff and prisoners participating in the project to assess the effectiveness of the sub-projects

6) Report on the identification, evaluation and implementation of research-based social innovations related to the project themes.