Research

My primary long-term research goal is to contribute to the universal knowledge of phonological development of children by understanding how bilingual children and children with speech sound disorders develop speech. I am currently conducting research to this end with the following projects.

1. I am currently completing a 3-year NIH funded project of how speech develops in typical children from bilingual Spanish-English and Russian-English backgrounds. This research expands the knowledge base for educators and families in regard to what is typical for bilingual speech development and also establishes a typical development framework from which to compare future research on bilingual speech sound disorders. With the help of many graduate research assistants, we have completed longitudinal data collection of approximately 300 preschool-aged children from English, Spanish-English, and Russian-English language environments. These speech samples are being transcribed and analyzed phonetically to see how bilingual children compare to their monolingual English peers in the areas of phonetic complexity and phonological development.
2. My research on bilingual development has expanded to treatment efficacy for preschool-aged Spanish-English bilingual children with speech sound disorders. We have conducted a pilot treatment study of two bilingual preschoolers and found that bilingual treatment resulted in change in both languages of the children's phonological system. The findings from this study will be explored in a large-scale study of bilingual treatment efficacy and efficiency.
3. I have developed the Phonological and Articulatory Bilingual Assessment (PABA), an assessment instrument that includes single word and imitated sentences subtests for evaluating speech in English and Spanish. With the help of many graduate students, I am exploring the correlation of the single word subtest with parent report, collecting normative data on the single word task, as well as comparing imitated sentence and single word assessment results for monolingual and bilingual children who are typically-developing and who have speech sound disorders.
4. An additional research area evaluates treatment efficacy for childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), an impairment in the motor planning necessary for accurate speech production. My graduate students and I have conducted single-subject design studies of treatment for children with CAS using integral stimulation methods and applying the principles of cognitive motor learning to treatment for CAS.