Language in Motion Laboratory

​​​Welcome to the Language in Motion Lab. We are a group of clinical scientists and speech-language pathologists who study how language, speech, cognitive and motor domains interact in children with developmental language disorder (DLD), speech sound disorder (SSD), and typical speech and language development. We think that children with DLD show difficulties in sequencing of grammatical, sound pattern and motor elements of language. Our long-term goals are to precisely identify children with DLD, regardless of their age and what language(s) they are learning, and to develop new and more effective interventions for these children.

What is DLD?

DLD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects 7-12% of kindergarten aged children. DLD emerges in early development and lasts through adulthood. People with DLD have difficulty producing and comprehending language and may have associated academic (including dyslexia) and social-emotional difficulties. Our aim is to facilitate the development of people with DLD.

What do children do when they visit our lab?

The children who come to our lab are junior scientists who help us learn about their speech, language and motor development. Children engage in assessment tasks in language, speech, hearing, nonverbal problem solving, and gross and fine motor skill. Over 500 young children have been junior scientists in our lab and have helped us discover how children learn language.

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