Speech-Language Pathology

The Human Interaction Lab is directed by Dr. Stephanie Borrie. In this lab, Borrie and her team investigate speech communication as a dynamic activity involving both speaker and listener. Major research lines include how listeners understand and adapt to speakers with neurological speech disorders, and how communication partners collaborate and coordinate their speech behavior during conversation.  

The School-age Language Intervention Lab is headed by Dr. Teresa Ukrainetz. The School-age Language Intervention Lab is headed by Dr. Teresa Ukrainetz. Over the years, Dr. Ukrainetz has investigated norm-referenced tests, dynamic assessment, phonemic awareness intervention, narrative development and intervention, expository intervention, and the role of the school SLP. Dr. Ukrainetz uses varied methods of investigation, including group experimental, single-case experimental, descriptive and qualitative designs – but almost always conducted within the busy life of schools. Her work is driven by the need for simple effective interventions that tap the distinctive expertise of SLPs and that can be implemented “in the wild” by school SLPs. Dr. Ukrainetz’s work has appeared in research journals, such as Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research and Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. She has authored two books on school-age language intervention for graduate students and SLPs.

Dr. Ukrainetz’s current research involves developing SLP interventions to improve expository language and learning for later elementary and secondary grade students. A small team of dedicated graduate and undergraduate students help carry out this work. Responsibilities might include: collecting data from study participants, administering and scoring assessments; conducting language sample transcription and coding; evaluating treatment fidelity and testing reliability, setting up online surveys, or entering data and managing records. Some students turn their work into theses and projects that they present at conferences or that form part of scholarly articles and research publications. No matter the task, everyone contributes to the advancement of knowledge and improvement of practice in speech-language pathology! 

Research in the LEAP (Language, Education and Auditory Processing) Brain Imaging Lab, directed by Dr. Ron Gillam, applies the principles of behavioral and cognitive neuroscience to solving core problems in psycholinguistics. Our goal is to advance our knowledge of neural processing and neuroplasticity in children with communication disorders.  We hope our research will lead to greater understanding of the best ways to promote brain changes through language, literacy, and STEM education.

Current research projects combine behavioral experimentation methods with neuroimaging methods (Near Infrared Spectroscopy, EEG, eye-tracking, and pupilometry) to examine neural and cognitive processes involved in accessing, manipulating, storing, retrieving, and classifying information.  We also are examining changes in activation patterns across micro- and macro-brain structures during information processing tasks. 

The Child Language Lab is headed by Dr. Sandi Gillam. Research in this lab focuses on the development of assessment tools and intervention approaches for improving cognitive, social and academic performance of individuals with language and learning problems. Students working in this lab use language sampling and coding techniques, administer and score standardized and criterion referenced assessments and investigate methods for measuring and improving discourse-level language. Students are encouraged and mentored to present at national conferences and to contribute to scholarly articles published in peer-reviewed journals.