Our People
The Child Language Research Laboratory team consists of faculty and staff members, doctoral and masters level graduate students, and students at the undergraduate level. Since 1978, members of the lab have been conducting studies designed to uncover the nature of language disorders in children.
Dr. Laurence B. Leonard
Distinguished Professor, Rachel E. Stark Distinguished Professor, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
Dr. Laurence B. Leonard
Distinguished Professor, Rachel E. Stark Distinguished Professor, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
Areas of Expertise
Language Disorders in Children; Cross-Linguistic Research; Language Development; Language Intervention
HHS Signature Research Area(s)
Developmental Health and Wellness
Biography
My research is directed at understanding the nature of childhood language disorders, with special reference to children with developmental language disorder (DLD). I have been publishing research in this general area for over 40 years and have had NIH funding since 1980. In recent years, my research has covered three areas. First, I have studied the bases of the major grammatical symptoms seen in DLD, through cross-linguistic research and more detailed studies of how children with DLD interpret input sentences. Second, I have conducted treatment studies aimed at facilitating children’s abilities in grammar. Most recently, my colleagues and I have undertaken an R01 project designed to determine the role that retrieval-based learning can play in increasing the word learning ability of children with DLD. I have served as the major advisor of 21 PhD students and 6 postdoctoral fellows and place such activities at a high priority level.
Directory page
Dr. Patricia Deevy
Research Associate
Dr. Patricia Deevy
Research Associate
Pat Deevy has managed the Child Language Research Lab since 2001 and has played an active role developing and carrying out NIH-funded research focusing on preschoolers with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Our studies have used a variety of methods to discover more about how young children learn grammar and words.
Curriculum Vitae
Kaitlyn Fischer
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Kaitlyn Fischer
Undergraduate Research Assistant
My name is Kaitlyn Fischer, and I’m from Carmel, Indiana. I am a junior in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences with minors in Human Development and Family Studies, Psychology, and ASL and Deaf Studies. In the future, I plan to go to graduate school to pursue a master’s degree in speech language pathology, work as a pediatric speech pathologist, and eventually get my PhD. My interests include dancing, reading, and hiking.