# Severe LD in Juvenile Delinquents

> **NIH NIH P20** · BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE · 2020 · $475,922

## Abstract

SUMMARY
Pursuant to the Specific Aims (SA) of the OVERALL section for the Hub, the RESEARCH PROJECT focuses
on the OVERALL SA2, i.e., (1) identifying a subgroup of juvenile offenders placed in residential settings who
are characterized by severe learning disabilities (LD) using big data approaches; (2) carrying out a novel mixed
media (person-to-person plus person-to-computer) educational therapy; and (3) differentiating responders from
nonresponders to academic therapy by tracking neurophysiological and epigenetic markers. Each of these
SAs, in turn, unfolds into a network of research aims. Specifically, using historical (i.e., generated by a freeze
from a historical dataset) big data from the Connecticut Court Support Services Division and the Harris County
Juvenile Probation Department (estimated n of ~100,000 individual cases), we will initiate three interrelated
inquiries: (1) to rigorously evaluate data quality and the statistical assumptions underlying the models that are
applicable to big data; (2) to enable valid descriptive and causal inferences from large-scale algorithms applied
to heterogeneous samples; and (3) to gain an understanding of the complexities of learning disabilities (LD)
among delinquent youth through the statistical methods that capture developmental processes on multiple
levels. The last inquiry will result in the development of an algorithm that will be applied to current data
maintained on juveniles in the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department, to assist in the identification of, in
total, 192 individuals (48 each year of the Hub) with severe LD. These individuals, in a nonconcurrent multiple
baseline design, will be offered an educational therapy designed to address severe reading problems in
juvenile detainees using a novel mixed media intervention in which the person-to-person intensive 1:1
component is completed while youth are in residential settings (24 sessions, delivered in 90 minute settings 3
times a week) and a “gamified” educational iPad learning tool follow-up completed upon release (with
appropriate network fidelity monitoring and participant reinforcement). The person-to-person component is
developed specifically for juvenile offenders with severe LD, combining two well-established and highly-
regarded intervention programs designed to systematically build students’ repertoire of grapheme-phoneme
correspondence rules as well as develop comprehensive reading skills, from beginning reading to proficiency.
We anticipate, based on the literature, that the intervention, although its components have been convincingly
demonstrated to be effective, will generate a spectrum of outcomes, with youth being more or less responsive
to the intervention. To differentiate these outcomes, we will trace two sets of biomarkers thought to be
associated with learning, i.e., neurophysiological and epigenetic markers, sampled throughout the intervention
delivery. To evaluate the generalizability and durability of the i...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9982117
- **Project number:** 5P20HD091005-04
- **Recipient organization:** BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** ELENA L GRIGORENKO
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $475,922
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9982117

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9982117, Severe LD in Juvenile Delinquents (5P20HD091005-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9982117. Licensed CC0.

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