This article is concerned with the oral language demands (both talking and listening) associated with restorative justice conferencing--an inherently highly verbal and conversational process. Many vulnerable young people (e.g., those in the youth justice system) have significant, yet unidentified language impairments, and these could compromise the young person's ability to fully engage in the restorative process. Unfortunately, such difficulties are often not recognized by justice, health, and education practitioners, and the young person runs the risk of being misjudged as rude, uncaring, or unmotivated. It is not known to what extent such difficulties interfere with the success of restorative conferences, both from the victim's and the perpetrator's perspective, however in the interim, it is recommended that practitioners need to be alert to the possibility of undetected communication difficulties, and a speech-language pathologist should be consulted in the lead-up to a conference if doubts exist about a young person's verbal skills. (Contains 1 table.)