I have two overarching areas of research – word learning and feeding development. In the realm of word learning I investigate multisensory cues for word learning and retrieval. I have devoted much of my career to understanding gestural development in children – both how they gesture, and how they use the adult’s gesture as a scaffold. Projects in the lab currently examine late talkers, children with TBI and children with ADHD, as well as typically developing children. My second area of interest grew out of my clinical expertise in pediatric swallowing and feeding disorders. The Feeding Project tracks oral-motor and other feeding behaviors across development (6-months to 31-months) as children advance texture. I have published clinically and research-related work in scholarly journals (e.g., the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, Pediatric Clinics of North America). I am an Associate Editor for Journal of Communication Disorders (previously, Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica and the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research). I have various lab projects that have been awarded: the New Investigators Research Grant from the ASHA Foundation (2008), the Graduate School’s Researcher of the Year award (2006), the Provost’s Faculty Scholarship award (2007), a Digital Humanities Seed grant (2017) and an Undergraduate Research Program grant (2020, 2019). In 2013, my research project student and I were awarded a Research Mentor Travel Award to attend the Research Symposium on genetics and language impairment at the Annual Convention of ASHA. My clinical experiences have focused on evaluating and treating children between birth and 8 years of age, with extensive experience in pediatric dysphagia. I am PROMPT trained, and HANEN certified (More than Words, It Takes Two To Talk). I maintain my ASHA certification (CCC-SLP) and received my second ACE award in 2020. I teach courses and seminars at the undergraduate, master and doctoral levels related to language development and disorders, and early intervention (emphasis on pediatric feeding and swallowing). I am a research mentor for undergraduates, and graduate students at the master and doctoral levels.