Screening Tests Reveal High Risk Among Adjudicated Adolescents of Auditory Processing and Language Disorders

Purpose The study investigated the prevalence of risk factors for auditory processing and language disorders among adolescents residing at a local juvenile detention center. Method A total of 782 adjudicated adolescents with normal hearing were screened with the Randomized Dichotic Digits Test (Strouse & Wilson, 1999) and the Dichotic Words Test (Moncrieff, 2015). A subset of 420 of those adolescents was also screened with the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF; Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 2003). Results More than 70% of the adolescents produced weakness on at least 1 dichotic listening test. One third of those produced weakness across both dichotic listening tests, consistent with a binaural integration deficit pattern. Nearly 48% of the subgroup of adolescents produced CELF scores that fell below the criterion for age. Dichotic listening and language scores were more associated in participants with poor performance in both ears during dichotic tests, who also produced the lowest scores on the CELF. There was no main effect of race, but 17- and 18-year-old Black adolescents produced lower CELF scores than White adolescents of the same age. Conclusions School-age children referred for disciplinary action may have undiagnosed deficits in auditory processing and/or language. Efforts to screen, diagnose, and remediate these deficits could lead to improvements in communication, learning, and language skills in this population.

Feigned Miranda Impairment by Legally Involved Juveniles: The Vulnerability of Forensic Measures and the Development of Effective Screens

Forensic studies have almost entirely neglected research on adolescent offenders and their abilities to engage in malingering and other forms of deception. The present research represents the first empirical investigation into feigned Miranda-specific impairment by legally involved juveniles. Feigners ( n = 62) were compared with archival data ( n = 245) under genuine conditions. With virtually no preparation, juveniles effectively feigned major impairment on the Miranda Rights Comprehension Instruments (MRCI) and most aggregate scores of the Juvenile Miranda Quiz (JMQ). Based on established detection strategies, feigning scales were examined for both the MRCI and JMQ. Consistent with adult detainee research, the JMQ floor effect (JMQ FE) yielded good sensitivities and very high specificities. Low scale scores on the MRCI Comprehension of Miranda Rights–Recognition-II (CMR-R-II) evidenced strong promise at identifying potential feigners for more extensive evaluations. As discussed, forensic evaluators cannot afford to ignore feigned legal incapacities when examining pre-adjudicated adolescents.