1. The document discusses supporting neurodiverse learners in New Zealand prisons through education programs. It aims to provide screening tools to identify neurodiverse traits, advise learners on their strengths and weaknesses, and supply records to share learner profiles across prisons. 2. Strategies are outlined to assist tutors in meeting learner needs, such as using multi-sensory techniques, step-by-step instructions, thinking time, simplifying language, and avoiding memory overload. 3. The benefits of education for learners and communities are highlighted, such as developing skills, improving mental health, reducing recidivism, and increasing employment prospects post-release. Technology is emphasized as an important tool for interactive learning and re

1. Dr Helen Farley
Practice Manager Education and
Training Southern Region
Adjunct Associate Professor
University of Southern Queensland

3. Making the
Connection
• $AUD4.4 million Australian
government funded
• Taking digital technologies into prison
• Digital access to higher education
• 1700 enrolments across 4 jurisdictions
• 39 sites

4. Why we’re here …

5. A unique cohort …
• 50% have dyslexia
• Up to 88% have traumatic
brain injury
• Up to 60% have significant
hearing loss
• Auditory Processing Disorder
• FASD
• ADHD
• Autism Spectrum Disorder

6. We estimate
• 57% require numeracy
and literacy support
• 66% have no formal
qualifications
compared to 23%
general population
• 4.4% have Autism
Spectrum Disorder
• 40–50% of youth have
ADHD
• 91% have a life time
diagnosis of mental
health or substance
abuse disorder

7. That results in
• Emotional age not equal
to physical age
• Poor impulse control –
anger
• Challenges with
processing information
• Poor working memory
• Challenges retaining
knowledge
• Challenges with fine
motor control
• Challenges with
understanding
instructions
• Challenges reading and
writing

8. Young males

9. In a hard place,
education needs
to be a soft place
to land

11. Community
benefit

12. Recidivism
• 70% reoffend within two
years
• 52% return to prison
within five years
• For youth 71% return to
prison within five years
• It costs around $100,000
to keep a person in prison
per year

13. Education reduces
reoffending and
recidivism rates
• The higher the level, the bigger the effect
• Reduction in crime and the number of
victims
• Even a small reduction translates to a
huge cost saving to the public
• 99% will return to society
• Community is safer

14. Cost less in the
community
• Better educated people access health care less
• Better educated people access welfare less
• Better educated people access other social
services less
• And better educated people are more likely to
be employed and have a better wage

15. Benefits for the
correctional facility

16. Dynamic security
• Reduction in violence
• Due to improved cognitive
capacity
• Negotiate rather than
retaliate
• Longer term thinking and
planning
• Learners have a calming
influence on others
• More aware of
repercussions

17. Education as a
window…
‘Education has made me more well-
behaved … it’s had a calming effect …
gave me something else to think
about … stopped me acting so
impulsively … gave me some long
term thoughts …’

18. But for the
person …

19. Becoming productive …
• Prison is no longer ‘a
waste of time’
• Achieving something
other than a prison
sentence
• Making loved ones
proud
• ‘Education is the only
thing that can make you
better when you go out
than when you go in …’
• ‘Now I can participate. I
know what’s going on.’

20. Learning
soft skills
• Being somewhere on
time
• Working with people
• Taking responsibility

21. Change of identity
• Move from ‘prisoner’ to
‘student’ or ‘learner’
• Yard, workshop or
classroom allows for
different points of view
• Treated differently

22. Specifically learning
• Develops resilience
• Develops higher cognitive skills
• Improved reasoning and planning
• Improves mental health (reduces
depression but also other mental
health disorders)

23. Neuroplasticity
happens at any
age …

24. Thinking about
what next
• Raising aspirations
• Learning what is available
• ‘You can’t know what you
can’t see.’
• How do we open eyes?
• Wellness
• Law-abiding unemployment
• Making a contribution –
finding a way to ‘give’

25. Learning for
employment …
• Vocational training and
‘academic’ education both
lead to employment
• The level is more important
than the type
• Higher levels have greater
impact
• People quickly ‘move out of’
their qualification

26. Supporting neurodiverse learners in New Zealand prisons

27. Aims
1.Provide tutors and Industry instructors with a
simple screening tool to identify neurodiverse
traits.
2.Provide advice to learners about their
learning strengths and weaknesses enabling
them to understand how they learn best,
allowing ownership of their learning.
3.Supply a means for recording an individual’s
neurodiverse traits on learner records which
can be shared across the estate.
4.Provide professional knowledge for tutors
and instructors about neurodiversity.
5.Develop a ‘toolbox’ of resources for tutors
and instructors to enable them to assist all
learners.

28. Strategies
• Using multi-sensory
techniques for learning
• Providing step-by-step
instructions
• Incorporate learner think
time
• Be aware of memory
overload
• Simplify your language

29. So, we’re thinking …
• Of engaging with custodial
• Higher level learning
• How we can support you on your
learning journey
• Learning is learning – parenting,
budgeting, living – more than the skills
• Wahine make the biggest difference in
their communities, whānau
• Getting digital
• How to best leverage external
providers

30. A technology quiz …
• Who looked at Facebook before they
got out of bed?
• Who has conducted an online
financial transaction today?
• Who has emailed the boss?
• Who has fed a virtual animal today?
• Who has looked me up on Linked In?
• Who has a qualification earned
entirely online?
• How many mobile devices do you
have?

32. Why is technology
important?
• Improve digital literacies
• Interactive learning materials
• Address learning challenges
• Provides for opportunities beyond the
classroom
• Providers are increasingly online
• Reintegration
• To improve employment prospects
post-release

34. YOU are the answer!

35. We are here for you …
Misa
misa.lagavale@corrections.govt.nz
Conny
conny.huaki@corrections.govt.nz
Marylou
marylou.sloane@corrections.govt.nz
Helen
helen.farley@corrections.govt.nz