Bio
As a developmental psychologist, my main areas of research are language development, language disorders, and early childhood development. I have worked extensively with parent report measures of early vocabulary, the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs), developing the CDI Scoring program, serving on the CDI Advisory Board, and being active in Wordbank, an open repository of CDI instruments from many different languages. My current studies examine links between children's language processing skill, early learning environments, and individual differences in language development in monolingual and bilingual learners from diverse backgrounds. I am also involved in studies exploring the importance of environmental stimulation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), showing that early engagement in developmental care activities (e.g., skin-to-skin care, holding, talking) has important consequences for positive neurological and behavioral outcomes. Finally, I am involved in a large-scale project following infants born preterm from birth to 18 months, examining the neurodevelopmental and environmental influences on development in this at risk population. In addition to conducting studies that have a basic science focus, I have also been Director of Program Evaluation for the Habla Conmigo project, overseeing the evaluation of parenting intervention programs designed to facilitate caregiver engagement in Latina mothers and their young children.
