We are proud to announce that Jiayin Xing, 6th Year Communication Sciences & Disorders doctoral student, successfully defended her dissertation titled, "Multi-Modal Skill Coordination in Social Communication: An Investigation in Autism Spectrum Disorder and First-Degree Relatives." Congratulations, Jiayin!!!
Our lab has recently published important findings showing how machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence (AI), may be used to capture clinically significant features of speech impacted in autism across different cultures and languages. This work was recently featured in Northwestern University Magazine, alongside other important findings from Northwestern, to discuss the potential of AI [...]
We have received new NIH funding to continue our lab’s research focused on identifying specific language traits linked to brain and gene function involved in autism. This important award represents the 3rd cycle of continuous NIH funding for this project, which began in 2010. Many of our families may recall participating in those earlier stages of this work, which [...]
Work from our lab was recently featured in Northwestern Now. Click here to learn more about how machine learning can be used to identify potential speech patterns characteristic of autism across languages. Photo by Emily Wade on Unsplash
Check out our recently published paper in Frontiers! This paper was published in collaboration with former NDL students, Dr. Michelle Lee and Dr. Nell Maltman, and colleagues, Dr. Gary Martin, Dr. Klinton Bicknell, and Dr. Adam Goodkind. This work characterizes potentially unique pragmatic profiles across different neurodevelopmental disabilities, and across contexts that varied in degree of [...]
July 1st marked the beginning of National Fragile X Awareness Month, and July 22 is World Fragile X Day. The National Fragile X Foundation reports that the prevalence of FXS in males is approximately 1 in 7,000 and in females 1 in 11,000, making it a leading inherited cause of intellectual disability. We at the NDL [...]
Emily Landau (bottom left), fourth-year clinical psychology graduate student, presented her research at INSAR this year, and her study explored narrative (i.e. storytelling) ability, which is an important skill for social communication. Her project characterized narrative ability in autistic individuals and their first-degree relatives across contexts (high versus low structure) and different language (English and [...]
We are happy and sad to share that Lauren deTorres, NDL research assistant, will be leaving Northwestern to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania’s M.S.Ed program for Counseling and Mental Health Services. Lauren is planning to become a Licensed Professional Counselor. Lauren has been part of our lab for the past three years [...]
Maureen Butler, NDL first-year doctoral student in clinical psychology, has just been announced a Randi J. Hagerman Summer Scholar by the National Fragile X Foundation! In her project proposal titled,” The Biological Basis of Pragmatic Language in Fragile X Premutation Carriers,” Maureen aims to understand how biological factors might influence pragmatic language skills among those with the fragile [...]
Please enjoy our holiday card and best holiday wishes from all of us at the NDL.
