College Research

Specialty Areas

Autism Spectrum Disorders

(Wetherby, Woods, Goldstein)

• Profiling social communication characteristics of infants and toddlers with ASD

• Identification of precise red flags of ASD from 12 to 36 months of age to improve early identification 

• Effectiveness of parent-implemented early intervention for infants and toddlers with or at risk for ASD using a developmental model

• Effectiveness of visual supports and augmentative communication to improve social communication skills of preschool and school-age children with ASD 

Child and Adolescent Language and Literacy Development and Disorders

(Apel, Goldstein, Thomas-Tate, Woods)

• Curriculum-based vocabulary instruction for children with and at-risk for language and reading disabilities

• Linguistic factors underlying reading and spelling development

• Assessment and intervention strategies for students with language-learning disorders

• Teacher professional development training for language and literacy

• Classroom- and curriculum-based intervention

Early Communication Development and Disorders

(Woods, Wetherby, Goldstein, Jackson)

• Prelinguistic predictors of language and emergent literacy development and disorders 

• Use of parent-report screening tools to improve early identification of infants and toddlers at risk for language and learning problems

• Generalization of family implemented interventions within natural environments for infants and toddlers

• Child outcomes from embedded language interventions within daily routines and play at home, child care and preschool classrooms 

• Social skills development of children with challenging behaviors

• Effectiveness of caregiver training procedures to enhance communication and language development (see http://pds.fsu.edu; http://fgrbi.fsu.edu)

• Embedding language and literacy intervention within shared book reading contexts in home and preschool settings

Multicultural Issues in Communication Disorders

(Jackson, Thomas-Tate)

• Differential diagnosis of communication disorders and differences in bilingual Spanish-speaking children

• Non-biased assessment protocols for Spanish-speaking children

• Relations between spoken and written language in African American students

• Code-switching ability in African American students

• Professional development in multicultural issues

Adult Language Disorders

(Bourgeois, LaPointe, Lasker, Stierwalt)

• Phone intervention with adults with chronic traumatic brain injury to improve memory using an errorless training procedure, Spaced-Retrieval

• Development of interactive multimedia training program for professional caregivers on how to manage aggressive resident behaviors

• Model programs to serve the needs of rural, underserved and minority elders by improving the care through education and training of health care faculty and community-based providers

• Development of augmentative and alternative communication assessment and treatment protocols for adults with aphasia

• Intervention strategies for nonspeaking individuals for communication at end-of-life

• Longitudinal analysis of linguistic and cognitive impairment in progressive neurological conditions

• The effects of distraction on cognitive/linguistic processing

• Physiologic correlates coinciding with the effects of varying cognitive/linguistic load

Adult Speech/Swallowing and Disorders

(LaPointe, Lasker, Morris, Scott, Stierwalt)

• Measures of tongue function and their contributions to speech/swallowing

• Instrumental assessment techniques to supplement the clinical assessment of dysphagia

• Effectiveness of AAC intervention protocols for adults and children with severe speech disorders

• Longitudinal analysis of oral motor function in progressive neurological conditions

Voice, Fluency, and Speech Acoustics

(Scott, Morris)

• Influence of time pressure on the efficiency, fluency and linguistic quality of communication in adults

• Single subject research of various stuttering therapy approaches, including the Lidcombe Program

• Development of evaluation and treatment protocols that address cognitive and affective components of fluency disorders

• Acoustic/temporal measurement of speech, singing and choral performance under varying conditions

• Effectiveness of voice imagery in treatment of voice disorders

Audiology and Audiologic Rehabilitation

(Jackson, Kahn, Snowden)

• Child speech and language outcomes following newborn identification of deafness

• Effectiveness of intervention approaches

• Impact of deafness on family quality of life

• Family satisfaction with early hearing detection and intervention

• Impact of family involvement on rate of progress

• Evaluation of auditory language processing

 

Research on Clinical Processes in the Speech and Hearing Clinic (Woods, Hudson, Kahn, McClung, Nimmons, Snowden, Jackson)

• Use of a standardized protocol to increase family participation in the intervention process

• Measurement of student competency development and satisfaction using treatment fidelity measures