¶ … Language Skills Blanton, D.J., & Dagenais, P.A. (2007). Comparison of language skills of adjudicated and nonadjudicated adolescent males and females. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. (38). 309-314.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were differences or similarities in cognitive and language skills of four groups of adolescent people. Specifically, the intention was to find whether there was a difference in these skills between males and females who were adjudicated and those who were nonadjudicated. Adjudicated adolescents in this experiment refer to youth who have been found responsible for negative actions by a judge in an official court of law.

Participants:

The four groups of adolescents were divided by gender and by whether or not they had been adjudicated. Involved in the experiment were 18 adjudicated females, 18 adjudicated males, 14 nonadjudicated females, and 14 nonadjudicated males. All of the participants had an IQ of at least 80 and were between the ages of 13 and 17 years old. Adjudicated participants were obtained through the Mobile County Girls and Boys Club while nonadjudicated adolescents were found through local Boys and Girls Clubs....

All of the participants were considered troubled or "at-risk" youths.
Procedures:

The 64 participants of the research experiment were evaluated using the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test or K-BIT. This test allows researchers to evaluate the intelligence of those taking the test. The K-BIT is comprised of two subsets, the vocabulary section and matrices. The adolescents were then given the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals or CELF examination. This determines and evaluates the language skills of the person being tested. The CELF-3 was comprised of six subtests, including three receptive language tests and three expressive language subtests. Receptive language tests include: Concepts and Directions, Word Classes, and Semantic Relationships. Expressive language tests include: Formulated Sentences, Sentence Assembly, and Recalling Sentences. The adjudicated males and females were tested in a quiet conference room while the nonadjudicated ones were tested at a local school, Boys and Girls Club, recreation areas, homes, and the University of South Alabama Speech and Hearing Center. The tests were all audio recorded to ensure viability and to protect researchers from accusations of altering or in some way cheating on the…