Restorative justice conferencing, oral language competence, and young offenders: Are these high-risk conversations?

Source: (2013) The Prevention Researcher. 20(1):18-20.

Given the enormous reliance of children and adolescents on secure, nurturing, and emotionally present parents, it is not surprising that young people reared in dysfunctional environments display enormous difficulties in meeting the social and academic challenges in the world of school. Many of these demands have oral language competence at their core; however, language skills often represent an area of “hidden disability” for at-risk young people. The focus of this article, therefore, is on those young people with no obvious communication difficulties, but who nevertheless have language skills well below those of their age peers, and are asked by school personnel to take part in a restorative justice (RJ) conference as a result of some wrongdoing. (excerpt)