Research Interests
- Reading and spelling development in children with and without disorders
- Examine and identify strengths and deficits in children with speech sound, language, and/or literacy disorders
- Relationship between early literacy skills and children with speech sound and/or language disorders
- Develop speech, language, and early literacy tools to identify disorders across languages and dialects
- Determine how to improve speech and language deficits, while decreasing the risk for literacy difficulty
Speech, language, and literacy skills are measured using similar assessments and tasks that occur in school and clinic settings. Additionally, some of our research studies are designed to observe how children reach their answers through eye tracking. This method gives us a snapshot of what is going on in a child's brain.
Current Projects
Project: Orthographic Knowledge in Children with and without Speech Sound Disorder
Status: Manuscript In Progress
Project: Influences of Orthographic Knowledge and Language Ability on Phonological Awareness Performance in Children with Speech Sound Disorder
Status: Manuscript In Progress
Project: Examination of Speech Production in Linguistically Diverse Individuals: Development and Application of Speech Production of Accent and Dialect Differentiation-Tool (SPADD-T)
Status: Manuscript In Progress
Project: Language Skill Measurement in Children with Speech Sound Disorder
Status: In Development
Project: Screening Speech, Language, and Literacy Skills in Referred Children
Status: In Development
Graduate Thesis Projects
Erin Bernier, Speech-Language Pathology Master's Student. Class 2024-2026.
Project: Understanding Music Integration on Literacy Skill Acquisition in Speech-Language Pathology Intervention
Status: In Development
Caroline Bumgarner, Speech-Language Pathology Master's Student. Class 2024-2026.
Project: Does a Speech Sound Disorder Diagnosis Determine Risk for Literacy Difficulties if Accounting for Language Skills: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Status: In Development
Sharlinda Guillaume, Speech-Language Pathology Master’s Student. Class 2023-2025.
Project: Development and Application of an Innovative Framework Improving Early Intervention Services: Systematic Pathway of early intervention Relational OUTcomes (SPROUT)
Status: Framework Development and Application In Process
Undergraduate-led Research Projects
Gracie Mae Hundley, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences major and Undergraduate Research Fellow in SLLAC Lab.
Project: Measuring Spelling in Children with Speech Sound Disorder (Upcoming submission: February 2024)
Status: Data Analysis In Process
Addi Garrott, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences major and Undergraduate Research Fellow in SLLAC Lab.
Project: Predicting Word Reading and Spelling with Speech Sound Production Errors in Early School-Aged Children (Upcoming submission: February 2024)
Status: Data Analysis In Process
