A groundbreaking education program has been launched in a Victorian juvenile detention centre in response to research linking language disorders and young offenders.

The research, by Melbourne's Monash University, revealed that 50 per cent of Australian children in juvenile detention have a communication or language disorder.

The problems can range from acquired brain injury to foetal alcohol syndrome to autism.

Professor Pamela Snow says the more violent the offence, the more likely the children are to have speech difficulties.

"They've learnt to escalate things quickly to physical violence. But they also lack the verbal tool-kit to navigate their way through the myriad of little social interactions that we all have to manage every day," she said.

Speech pathologist Laura Caire says many affected children may not be aware they have a problem.

"Kids with the most amount of language impairment have the least amount of insight," she said.

"So these kids may not even know that they have a problem, let alone know how to advocate for themselves."

In response to the research the Government is trialling a school inside a juvenile detention centre, based on a groundbreaking initiative in the United States.

The ABC's 7.30 was given the the first look inside the school at Melbourne's Parkville Juvenile Detention Centre.

The school is the brainchild of former Victorian teacher of the year Brendan Murray.

"The statistics suggest that these children go on to a lifetime in prison. And I want to change that," he said.

Parkville College was inspired by a meeting with American woman Maddie Witter.

Ms Witter co-founded the KIPP Infinity school in central Harlem, which revolutionised learning in one of the poorest and toughest neighbourhoods in the United States.

KIPP achieved astonishing results, becoming the top-performing school in New York City.

"I always tear up. Because they came in far below grade level in Year 5. Some weren't able to read the word 'cat'," Ms Witter said.

"And after they've now been at KIPP eight years, they're getting their college acceptance letters."

Now, the lessons of Harlem are being brought to Parkville.

Ms Caire says it is important to create a curriculum that does not alienate children with language impairments.

"Using comic strip conversations with talking bubbles, thinking bubbles, different colours for feelings, having role plays, helping these kids to apply the information," she said.

"It's starting to pay off... Boys who hadn't finished Year 8 are graduating from Year 12.

"Boys are irritating their cellmates - not with bad behaviour, but because they're so engrossed a book that they won't turn the light off."

Another key philosophy borrowed from Harlem - building stamina in learning - is also being imported to Parkville.

"When children come into our classrooms from remand, where they're literally come off the streets, they're given books and they're encouraged to read," Mr Murray said.

"And many of the kids are saying it's the first time that they've ever read a book independently. It's the first time that they've been quiet in a classroom and not got booted out."

Starting off with children's books, they gradually work their way up to the literary canon.

A recent study by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute found that one in five children starting primary school has a speech or communication problem.

Speech pathologists say more help is needed in those crucial early years if more kids are to avoid ending up in juvenile detention.

Across Australia, there is currently an average of just one speech pathologist for every 3,000 school children.

"These kids just drop out of school because they can't participate in most of classroom tasks because they involve reading and writing," Ms Caire said.

"So if we can identify these kids early on and provide the early interventions necessary, then we can keep them in school, which is a huge protective factor against offending."