Interviewing children (and adolescents)

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Professor Pamela Snow LRHS, Bendigo Interviewing children (and adolescents) National Investigations Symposium Sydney November 9, 2016

2 La Trobe University

In this presentation

• What is language?

• How is language development influenced by early environment?

• Why is language development important?

• What company does language keep developmentally?

• Language skills and the social gradient

• What do we know about maltreated children and vulnerable adolescents and language skills?

• Interviewing: The SAFE approach


ORAL LANGUAGE ?

Everyday talking (expressive) and listening (receptive / comprehension) skills


Language consists of many component skills

Form Content

Use

Knowledge of sound system; rules of syntax and morphology

Vocabulary and concepts

Knowledge about how to communicate in different social situations


Language entails both surface and hidden meanings

Similes Metaphor Idiom Jokes Sarcasm Analogy Irony


Language development and early mental health

Importance of the interpersonal space

Reciprocity and responsiveness

“Motherese”

Being child-led

Emotional warmth and attunement

Development of empathy & perspective taking

Linking of emotion words to affective self regulation

Language and social cognition

7 La Trobe University 7

Communication and the company it keeps Thinking

Reasoning

Problem-solving

Predicting

Inferencing

Remembering

Perspective taking

Empathising

Moving from the concrete to the abstract

Theory of Mind


Language exposure and the social gradient Hart & Risley (1995)


Language exposure and SES Hart & Risley (1995)



30 million word

advantage by age 4



Important qualitative differences in parental

input


Language exposure and SES - Hart & Risley (1995)

Longitudinal follow-up at ages 9&10 showed strong links b/w language exposure at age 3 and academic outcomes


Remembering that…

Not all low SES families provide linguistically under-nourishing environments

Not all high SES families provide linguistically enriched environments

Language skills are related to human and social capital, not just economic capital


Language is a paradox Humans have evolved a special facility for oral language, such

that it is innate. BUT

It is highly vulnerable to a range of developmental conditions, e.g. hearing impairment, intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorders, brain injury;

It is highly sensitive to environmental exposure;


Developmental stage is important


Threats* to the development of OLC

♣Neglect – esp socio-emotional ♣Abuse ♣Parental MH problems e.g. depression, substance abuse ♣Social disadvantage / low SES / chaotic family ♣Developmental disabilities ♣Male gender ♣Sensory deficits ♣ Inadequate / interrupted education – b/c language

continues to emerge / evolve throughout childhood, adolescence and across the adult life-span

*Cumulative in nature


The pathway to offending Male:Female ratio of 5:1 (Higher in custodial settings)

Over-representation of

Single-parent households – absent fathers

Dysfunctional communication / parenting

Parental mental health problems

Involvement with child protection services

History of behaviour / conduct disturbance

Low educational attachment / attainment

School exclusion – school-to-prison pipeline

Developmental disability (diagnosed or not)

Low SES

Intergenerational un/under-employment in parents

Early initiation into substance use / abuse

Early death


Implications for language development? Male:Female ratio of 5:1 (Higher in custodial settings)

Over-representation of

Single-parent households – absent fathers

Dysfunctional communication / parenting

Parental mental health problems

Involvement with child protection services

History of behaviour / conduct disturbance

Low educational attachment / attainment

School exclusion – school-to-prison pipeline

Developmental disability (diagnosed or not)

Low SES

Intergenerational un/under-employment in parents

Early initiation into substance use / abuse



Language competence in young male offenders i.e. vulnerable young males: key findings 50-60% of young male offenders have a clinically significant,

yet undiagnosed LI that cannot be explained on the basis of

low IQ,

Low SES

neurodisability, and/or

mental health problems

Links exist between LI and past history of interpersonal violence

Higher rates of LI in young people who enter the Youth Justice system via Child Protection



Red flags that should make you suspect communication difficulties

Diagnosed developmental disability

Diagnosed language impairment

Special school attendance

Academic under-achievement, including reading problems

Teacher or parent concern

Social / peer level interpersonal difficulties

Restlessness, avoidance, poor eye-contact,

Overly acquiescent style

Yep, nup, dunno, maybe, shoulder-shrugging etc

History of either internalising or externalising mental health problems


Language problems occur in

Expressive domain

Receptive domain

Vocabulary

Syntactic complexity

Figurative/idiomatic language

Narrative skills

Literacy skills


Language difficulties make it hard to

Tell a story (e.g. provide evidence; speak up for oneself)

Consider listener perspective (i.e., judge what the listener needs to know / already knows / may not already know)

Use specific vocabulary (instead of “you know”, “thing”)

Understand idiomatic / figurative language, even at a simple level

Manage concepts of time, space, distance, quantity, temporal sequencing

Get a joke / discern good humour from intended offence

Be an assertive communicator who can share the load, e.g., can

Say that they don’t understand

Correct a mis-understanding on part of the other speaker

Avoid and / or repair inadvertent offence

Reflect on one’s own communicative success



Language difficulties may masquerade as

• Low engagement • Rudeness • Indifference / lack of concern • Poor motivation to cooperate • “Yep, nup, dunno, maybe”…and

other minimalist responses • Suggestibility / Over-compliance in

forensic interviews, whether as suspects, witnesses or victims

• Behaviour disturbance • Low IQ • Lack of genuineness / authenticity


Children and the justice system

• Victims • Suspects • Witnesses

NB: Developmentally vulnerable children are more likely to appear in the justice system


What you can do (1)

Remember that children are not miniature adults

Undergo formal training in interviewing children

Create communication-friendly spaces for young people

Modify your own communication style

Pace

Chunking

Paraphrasing

Eye level

Extra time for responses

Learn to maximise your use of broad, open-ended questions and minimise use of closed questions

Avoid tag/leading questions


What you can do (2) Recognise that it may be easier for a child to say “I don’t know” than to

try to explain something that is complex / embarrassing / stressful

Minimise use of non-literal language – idiom, metaphor, etc

Remember that fatigue, hunger, anxiety, distress etc will affect a child’s communication ability and capacity to engage / persevere

Ensure that young people who normally use an assistive device have this accessible to them

Speak with carers re “what works” with respect to communication in cases of obvious disability

Remember that children in homes where languages other than English are spoken may experience particular difficulties

Remember that speech problems ≠ language or cognitive problems

Request an assessment by a Speech Pathologist if in doubt


Interviewing: The SAFE* Approach

S – Simple language

A – Absence of specific details not previously raised

F – Flexibility in allowing the child to decide what should be reported

E – Encouraging an elaborate response *Powell, M.B. & Snow, P.C. (2007). A guide to questioning children during

the free-narrative phase of an interview about abuse. Australian Psychologist, 42(1), 57-65.


Simple language • Children are not miniature adults

• Phrase questions in a linguistically simple way

• Keep questions short

• Allow the child to respond to one question at a time

• Details re: time, sequence, distance, frequency etc may be beyond a young child

• Be upfront in your requests for information – avoid indirect requests

• Stated meaning = intended meaning – there should be no inferencing required


Absence of specific details not previously raised

• Try to avoid referring to aspects of the incident that have not been mentioned by the child

• Presumptive open-ended questions can lead to false beliefs on the part of the child, e.g., “He hit you, didn’t he?”

• Avoid coercive techniques, e.g., selective reinforcement for certain types of information, bribery, repeating a particular question, doubting / disputing the child’s response


Flexibility in allowing the child to decide what should be reported

Cast the net wide – “Tell me everything that happened at Joe’s house”; “Tell me everything about the part where you were in Joe’s kitchen”

Children’s testimony carries greater (legal) weight if information is elicited as part of a free narrative

You may have been given incorrect / misleading information; put your assumptions to one side.


Encouraging an elaborate response Assume a naïve stance

“Tell me everything you did at Joe’s house, starting at the very beginning and going right through to the very end”

Joe asked me to his house

And then his brother came

They got aggro

Their dad chucked something at them. That’s all


Encouraging an elaborate response

Tell me all about the part where Joe asked you in to his house

Tell me all about the part where Joe’s brother came in

Tell me all about the part where they got aggro

Tell me all about their dad chucking something at them

Tell me all about the part where his brother came


AVOID Interrupting the child

Who, what where, why questions Going for depth at the expense of breadth – fill out the narrative

first, then seek additional detail as needed Rushing the child

Tag questions

“Can you tell me” questions Over-use of specific / yes-no questions Coercive techniques (overt or covert)

Assumptions

Making promises you can not keep


DO Interview the child in a place that is quiet and safe

Use lots of minimal encouragers: mm hm, uh huh, nodding etc

Allow extra time for responses and plenty of time for the interview itself

Use the child’s terminology for body parts

Assume competence on the part of the child to tell his / her story and to provide genuinely new information

Believe the child – the interview is for data gathering not verification


Relevant publications

Brubacher, S., Powell, M.B., Snow, P.C., Skouteris, H. & Manger, B. (2016). Guidelines for teachers to elicit detailed and accurate narrative accounts from children. Children and Youth Services Review, 63, 83-92.

Feltis, B., Powell, M.P., Snow, P.C., & Hughes-Scholes, C.H. (2010). An examination of the association between interviewer question type and story-grammar detail in child witness interviews about abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 34, 407-413.

Powell, M.B. & Snow, P.C. (2007). Guide to questioning children during the free-narrative phase of an interview about abuse. Australian Psychologist, 42(1), 57-65.

Snow, P.C. & Powell, M.B. (2011). Youth (In)justice: Oral language competence in early life and risk for engagement in antisocial behaviour in adolescence. Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, 435, 1-6.


[email protected] @PamelaSnow2

The Snow Report http://pamelasnow.blogspot.com.au/

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Interviewing children (and adolescents)