PhD Student

The PhD student in the Applied Language and Speech Sciences program carries out dissertation research on bilingual children who have a language disorder or disability. The work focuses on children who speak both Spanish and English, examining how they negotiate between the two languages in the school setting. The research also considers strategies the children use to compensate between languages.

The dissertation research includes one semester interviewing teachers and speech language pathologists who work with these children, followed by an additional semester observing the children in their classroom environment. The student received approvals from the Institutional Review Board and the dissertation committee, and is also in the approval process from the elementary school to identify four bilingual children for observation. Data collection supports writing the first three chapters of the dissertation.