The Spoken Language, Written Language, and Executive Functions of Female Adolescents with High Risk Factors

Abstract

This study examined the spoken language, written language, and executive functions of 19 female adolescents with high risk factors in a long-term, holistic program. Standardized assessment results revealed that 63.2% of the participants had below-average spoken language, 68.5% had below-average written language, and 68.4% and 42.1% had some level of elevated executive functioning challenges (as reported by themselves and by the program staff, respectively). However, these profiles did not match their current disabilities: none had a speech/language impairment, 26.3% had a learning disability, and 78.9% had emotional/behavioral disorder. Additionally, there were stark differences in the number of disabilities and assessment scores between participants involved with the juvenile justice system and those who were not. Participants involved with the justice system had the greatest challenges in all areas. This and other findings from the study are described and discussed.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the non-profit organization and their staff in their assistance with this study, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Department of Health Sciences and the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies for lending the assessments used in this study, Drs. Karen Erickson and Stephen Hooper for their review and input, and research assistants Ramsey Coyle and Haley Arnold for administering and scoring the assessments.

Disclosure Statement

The author serves as a volunteer on the Board of Directors of the research site.

Additional information

Funding

This study was partially funded by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Medicine DEI Mini Grant.